Sonic Underground CHAOS
by Sonic Remix
Summary: The Sonic Underground are down south, following Robotnik and trying to figure out his evil plot when newcomers Shadow, Ali, and Jules, crash the band. What is up with these three, and how are they linked to the SU? Rewrite of the Sonic Adventurers
1. A New Venture, Part 1: Shadow Rising

**3 weeks ago**

Robots blasted their way through a base, shooting down everyone who got in their way. Following behind them, a fat man with a big red mushtashe walked calmly, not even bothered by bodies falling and being captured by robots, nor of the explosions caused by laser fire from both sides. It was rather obvious who was going to win this conflict.  
Dr. Robotnik stopped at the end of a hallway, and looked to one of his robots that floated next to him. "Get this door open!"  
"Yes sir," it droned, headed for a console next to the the large blast door that blocked the man from what he was after.  
"Its here, I know it is," he muttered to himself, moments before the doors opened, letting him into a large labrotory.  
Within the room, several large containment tubes layed hooked up to machines. Cryo-tubes. Robotnik laughed.  
"Yes, this is it...GUN's secret weapon..."  
Headed for another console himself, he pulled from a small pack, a green gem. A chaos emerald. He set it on the console and began to enter in a series of commands. "Decades of legacy, all locked behind one simple name...here's to you, Maria."  
He chuckled as he entered the password MARIA into the console, to which caused one of the cryo-tubes to unseal and open. A shadowy figure rose from the robe.  
"Project Shadow...is mine."

--

Sonic Underground CHAOS  
A New Venture, Part 1  
Shadow Rising  
written by Sonic Remix  
Sonic the Hedgehog and related characters and indica © and 1991-2008 SEGA - Sonic Team

--

The black hedgehog stood at a console, in the city of Robotropolis, as Dr Robotnik went over screens of different hedgehogs. Three of them, blue, pink and green. He spoke to the black hedgehog. "These are the hedgehogs. Sonic, Sonia, and Manic. They been a thorn in my side for years now. What I want you to do is to find them, befriend them, and then lead them right into the robotisizer."  
The hedgehog, Shadow, looked to Robotnik and smirked. "Most assurely, Doctor...whatever you say."

Overhead in the rafters, a cloaked figure watched the pair with lavender eyes, narrowing them as she listened to them.  
What are you up to, Shadow? she wondered before taking off down the catwalk, trailing Shadow outside.

Meanwhile, across town in an underground hideout, Sonic the Hedgehog sat in a chair, gripping a gutair in his hand and strummed it, a song in his head as he tried to get it to sound out on his gutair. He was disrupted when he heard keys jingling behind him. He turned to see his sister, Sonia, walking towards the outside area. "And where do you think you're going?"  
Startled, Sonia jumped and looked at Sonic. "Shopping! Is that a problem?"  
In a flash of light, Sonic's gutair diisappeared, changing into a medallion around his nexk as he stood up. "It is when we don't have the money to be shopping for anything other than food."  
"Well this is important to me, Sonic!" She huffed before turning up her nose and folding her arms. "...its Bartleby's birthday soon, and I want to get something nice for him."  
About this time, Manic was coming from the kitchen, an apple in hand, as he watched and listened to the conversation as Sonic replied. "Bartleby? No offense, sis, but why are you still seeing that loser? He's not right. He'd rather hide behind his money then to do anythign useful with you. He's not exactly loyal to you."  
Sonia sighed. "Not everyone is a fighter, Sonic! Some people can't help it! I know Bartleby can do better, I just know it!"  
"So can you, Sonia! You always got guys coming after you, I just know any one of them can be a definite step up from Bartlebutt!"  
Sonia, angry at this, retorted in response. "How would you know, Sonic?! You haven't even GOT a girlfriend!"  
The silence was near deafening as Manic dropped his apple from the outburst. Sonic stood there, staring outward toward Sonia, but not at her. It took Sonia a moment to calm down and realize she said the wrong thing to her brother, and looked away. "Sonic...I-"  
"Don't talk to me."  
The response from Sonic suprised Manic and hurt Sonia as he suddenly walked past, heading outside. Manic finally decided to go after Sonic, leaving Sonia by herself, feeling terrible for what she said.

Manic followed Sonic outside into the open air, and to a small, dark alley in behind the building. Manic had never bothered coming back behind the safe house before, so he was suprised to find a pile of old matresses there. Sonic was laying on them, able to look up and see the stars above, despite most of the lights and pollution. The small dark alley gave a bit of focus to what the rest of the city missed.  
"Whoa..." Manic breathed. "Sweet spot, bro!"  
"I perfer my solitude here, Manic," came the bitter reply.  
Manic frowned and sat down. "Look, Sonia didn't understand what she was sating when she said that-"  
"But she's right!" Sonic retorted, slamming his fist against the matress. "I DON'T have a girlfriend! I don't have anyone!"  
Sonic sat up in frustration, looking at Manic. "I don't get it! I can barely get a date, and yet Sonia has all these guys flocking to her!"  
Manic looked at his brother, a little bewildered. "Are you crazy, bro? You probably have more girls falling for you than me! How can you NOT get a date?"  
Sonic fell quiet, turning his back before he muttered. "They're not my type."  
Manic blinked. "And how would you know?"  
Sonic sighed. "They only wanna date me because I'm a hero, or better, royalty. Sure, I'm not exactly sitting in the lap of luxury like Sonia's loverboy, but around here, titles mean all the difference."  
"So...you're saying you want someone who will see past all that to see the real you?"  
"Exactly!"  
"...how would you accomplish that?"  
"..." Sonic sighed, flopping backwards on the matress. "I donno...maybe its something more than that...maybe...I just want someone who's different. Someone...REAL...someone who's not going to fall prey to corruption...I don't want to date someone who'd no sooner turn me over to Robotnik, given the chance."  
"There is..." Manic finally said, looking up to the stars. "She's out there...you just have to find her."  
Sonic turned his head to Manic. "And how will I know when its her?"  
"Time...proof...you'll just...know...it'll hit you, bam..." Manic said, distantly, watching the stars.  
Sonic blinked, turning his head back to the sky. "You had a girlfriend once?"  
Manic was quiet before he replied. "Sorta...a long time ago..."

**Present Day**

Deep within a tropical forest, a large van rolled through downa dirtt road, Sonic driving while Sonia and Manic were in the back, looking over some data on a computer. "So the turrets are set around the base here, here, and here. We can bust in, take out the robots and turrets, and set the bombs, and Robotnik's newest base is history!"  
Manic grinned as he listened in on the plan. "Robotnik's gonna have egg all over his face!"  
"Egg? Then we'd have to call him 'Eggman'!" Sonic laughed as he drove.  
"Eggman? That's a good one!" Manic laughed.

Meanwhile, in the base, Robotnik was sitting down, looking over some information he was gathering from the nearby ruins. "Yes, its perfect! This plan is the best one I ever had...and with Shadow to keep the brats busy, no one can stop me..."

The van continued to roll, the sight of the base coming up in the distance. Sonic frowned as they approached. "Its not very big...what's Robotnik doing out here anyway?"  
Sonia spoke up. "Well, according to intel, Robotnik's been out here doing some research on the local ruins...he's searching for something...a weapon maybe."  
"Yea, but what could be out here that Robotnik would want so much?"

Robotnik looked over the latest results, looking rather suprised. "Well well, its a small world AFTER all..." He looked to the robot. "Prepare the Egg Carrier! Its time we leave."  
"Sir, intruders approaching the base," the robot droned.  
Robotnik stopped to smirk. "Its them..."

Sonic floored the petal, the van racing in as Sonia took control of the console that controlled the weapons on the van. As Sonic raced to the gates of the base, Sonia began to shoot out the turrets that were taking aim at the van.

Eggman marched down the hall, alarms sounding as he picked up a comm signal. "All SWATbots, deal with the hedgehogs!"

The van slid to a halt, Sonic looking back. "Manic, see if you can get into the system and download information on what Robotnik's up to!"  
Manic grinned, running to the computer console and getting to work to get into Robotnik's system while Sonia began to shoot at the robots that came out of the base.  
The Egg Carrier suddenly lifted off from the base, catching Sonic by suprise. "Whoa, that's a big ship!"  
Sonia finished taking out the robots as she looked to Manic. "Please tell me you got the information before that ship took off!"  
"No, I'm trying to get into the base computers, but there's some kind of looping feedback! Its like-"  
He suddenly looked up. "SONIC, FLOOR IT!"  
Not needing to be told twice, Sonic took off, speeding the van down the road and away from the base before a large explosion rocked the area.

Robotnik entered information into a console. "Set a course for Angel Island!" He smirked. "I have a suprise for the resistance..."

That night, the SU were staying in a hotel in Station Square, a local costal town near the forest where they were investigating the base. Manic was sighing as he looked over information on a laptop in their room. Sonia was pacing back and forth. "Anything?"  
"Naw, that Eggman was just way too quick for us this time, I got ziltch. I can't even get a lock on where his ship is heading."  
Nearby, Sonic groaned. "He's up to something...just...what is it?"  
Suddenly a beeping sound was heard on Manic's laptop. "Hey, I got an incoming transmission..."  
He hit a button, and a voice was heard as the hedgehogs gathered around the computer. "You want information on what Dr Robotnik is up to?"

As the Egg Carrier cruised through an oncoming storm, Dr Robotnik was holding a meeting with his two bounty hunters, Sleet the Wolf, and Dingo.  
"This should be a job that even you two can't screw up. I want you to run a search for chaos emerald energy."  
"Chaos emerald? Don't you already have one, sir?" Sleet asked.  
"According to legend, there are seven special emeralds. I want ALL of them!"  
"Seven? Uh...yes sir!" Sleet nodded. A robot floated up to Robotnik.  
"Approaching Angel Island, sir," it droned.  
"Excellent," he grinned.

All three hedgehogs gathered around the laptop, as the video feed of a black hedgehog showed on screen. Sonic inhaled rather sharply at the sight of another hedgehog. He had a rather unique look, with swept up spines and blood red stripes...and ruby eyes, deep in mysterious. He was, needless to say, exotic.  
"Who are you?" Sonic asked immeditely.  
"My name is Shadow. My timing is rather convienient, so I understand your suspicion. I actually been monitoring your activities for several weeks now and want to help."  
Sonic folded his arms. "Well, friend, how can you help us?"  
Sonia elbowed him. "Sonic!"  
Shadow held his hand up. "Its okay, he has every right to be suspcious of me."  
Well this is a first, Sonic thought. Either he's a good actor or he's not even trying to gain our trust up front.  
"How about we meet someplace public this evening and talk about this? You may even pick the location," Shadow offered.  
Sonic eyed the screen supciously as Manic and Sonia took to their brother. Sonic finally nodded. "The Burger Shop in Station Square. 7 o'clock."  
Shadow smirked. "Its a date."  
The screen blacked out. Sonia looked to Sonic. "Should we trust him?"  
"Well...he made no attempt to hide the facts of his conveinet timing...I donno Sonia..."  
"Dare."  
Sonia and Sonic looked tgo Manic, who uttered that word. "Huh?"  
"Dare. Dare to take a chance. That's what I say," Manic replied.  
Sonic thought about it, a hand touching to his medallion.

_Sometimes when your hopes have all been shattered  
And there's nowhere to turn  
You wonder how you keep going  
Think of all the things that really mattered  
And the chances you've earned  
The fire in your heart is growing  
You can fly, if you try leaving the past behind  
Heaven only knows what you might find_

_Dare - dare to believe you can survive  
You hold the future in your hand  
Dare - dare to keep all of your dreams alive  
It's time to take a stand  
And you can win, if you dare_

_Everybody's trying to break your spirit  
Keeping you down  
Seems like it's been forever  
But there's another voice if you'll just hear it  
Saying it's the last round  
Looks like it's now or never  
Out of the darkness you stumble into the light  
Fighting for the things you know are right_

_Dare - dare to believe you can survive  
The power is there at your command  
Dare - dare to keep all of your dreams alive  
It's time to take a stand  
And you can win, if you dare_

_Dare - dare to believe you can survive  
You hold the future in your hand  
Dare - dare to keep all of your dreams alive  
The power is there at your command_

_Dare - dare to keep all your love alive  
Dare to be all you can be  
Dare - 'cause there is a place where dreams survive  
And it's calling you on to victory_

Sleet and Dingo were running some monitoring on the screen, leaving Dingo to whine. "Why do we have to do this again? Why can't we just take the emerald from the island?"  
"Because, you oaf. When Dr Robotnik gets done, that emerald's going to be worthless. We have to find seven SPECIAL emeralds. Robotnik already has one, so we have to find more!"  
Suddenly a beeping sound occurred, and Shadow appeared on screen. "Sleet, tell the Doctor that the plan has been set. We're meeting in Station Square at 1900 hours."  
The screen flicked off, leaving Dingo to wonder. "That's a lot of hours to be waiting. I thought we were supposed ta get them tonight!"  
"It IS tonight, stupid! Its military time. He means that the meeting nis at 7 PM!"  
"Ooooh...I don't get it."  
Sleet slapped his face. "Grrr..."

Sonic sat at the table in the burger joint, a plate of chilidogs on hand. "Oh yea, now THIS is living!"  
Manic and Sonia sat with him, each with their own plate of food they ordered. All they had to do now was to wait. Finally he entered. Shadow approached them. Just looking at Shadow in person caught Sonic in the middle of a chilidog, looking at him like the way a deer is caught in headlights. Even Shadow was locking eyes with him as Shadow sat down at the table. "Thank you for meeting with me."  
Sonic swallowed his bite quickly, dropping the rest of his chilidog on the plate to speak. "Hey, if we have a friend to help us, then all the better. So why do you want to help us?"  
Shadow cleared his throat. "Admittedly, I was orginally recruited by the Doctor to serve as a double agent. He wanted me to gain your trust. But I wanted no part of it. So I fooled him. I was able to get some of his plans before I left the base. That's how I knew about what you three been up to. I have been spying for him, but no more."  
Sonic looked suprised, and looked to his siblings. "Well, you gotta hand it to him, he's honest."  
Sonia folded her arms, not convinced. "Uh huh...and why exactly do you want to help US?"  
"Sonia!"  
Sonic was the one speaking up this time, only to leave Shadow to hold his hand. "Its okay, your sister has every right to ask questions. See, the thing is-"  
A sudden explosion rocked the joint, and through the wall were several robots. Sonic lept to his feet. "SWATbots!"  
Shadow got to his feet as well. "The Doctor must be after me. He knows I betrayed him!"  
Sonia and Manic lept to their feet, joining their brother at his side as Sonic spoke. "No problemo, Shadow! We got this covered!"  
All three touched their medallions that they wore. With a bright glow, they transformed into instruments. Sonic aimed the head of the gutair at the swatbots and strummed the strings, shooting out a bright laser that shot the swatbot, causing it to explode. Sonia followed suit with her synthesizer, and Manic beat on his set of drums, causing a miniquake that knocked the rest off their feet.  
"HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!"  
The triplets stopped as Sleet came in, holding a laser. An orange laser that was probably Dingo, having been shapeshifted into an alternate form. And it was pointed directly at Shadow. "Don't move...or your new friend gets it!"  
Shadow looked at Sonic. "Don't listen to him! Take him out while you can!"  
"No."  
Sonic was the first one to recall his intrument, looking at Sleet. "I won't have anyone hurt because of me."  
"How noble..." Sleet grinned, before aiming the laser at him. "But a big mistake!"  
Suddenly Sleet was beaned across the head from behind by an intricately carved staff, falling and revealing a cloaked figure behind him. She spoke. "He won't be out long! Run for it!"  
Not having to be told twice, Sonia and Manic recalled their instuments. Sonic grabbed Shadow's hand, pulling him outside quickly, with Manic and Sonia following. The mysterious cloaked figure took up the rear.

On the Egg Carrier, a transporter activated, and Robotnik appeared on the ship, grinning. "It has begun! Set course for the base..."  
As he sat in his chair, he pressed his fingertips together, grinning. "The god of destruction is in my control..."

The group ran outside the burger joint, and into the night, where they stopped when they found many spectators watching the skies. Sonic looked up and stared. "What the-??"  
A mist of green sparkles were floating down over the city. In the far distance, Sonia noted a falling star...or so it looked. Moments later a thunderous earthquake tore through the city, jolting everyone off their feet.  
"Just what WAS that?" Manic yelped, rubbing his bottom and getting to his feet.  
Everyone continued to watch the skies as Sonic breathed. "I don't know, Manic...I just don't know..."

To Be Continued...

"Dare" - performed by Stan Bush on the Transformers (animated version) soundtrack.


	2. A New Venture, Part 2: Secrets in the Ch

Last time, on Sonic Underground CHAOS:

The group ran outside the burger joint, and into the night, where they stopped when they found many spectators watching the skies. Sonic looked up and stared. "What the"  
A mist of green sparkles were floating down over the city. In the far distance, Sonia noted a falling star...or so it looked. Moments later a thunderous earthquake tore through the city, jolting everyone off their feet.  
"Just what WAS that?" Manic yelped, rubbing his bottom and getting to his feet.  
Everyone continued to watch the skies as Sonic breathed. "I don't know, Manic...I just don't know..."

--

Sonic Underground CHAOS

A New Venture, Part 2  
Secrets in the Chao Garden

written by Sonic Remix

Sonic the Hedgehog and related characters and indicia © and ™ 1991-2008 SEGA - Sonic Team

--

Dr. Robotnik had been monitoring a screen when a nervous Sleet and Dingo came in. He looked up to the bounty hunters. "Well"  
"Uh...they...they got away, sir," Sleet said before flinching, expecting Robotnik to do or say something nasty.  
"Oh well"  
"Please sir, it wasn't my fault! See, there was...huh"  
Sleet stopped in his babbling when he realized what Robotnik said and looked at him blankly. Robotnik grinned. "This time, I have planned for every success and every failure. This time, I cannot be stopped. We will ALWAYS have another chance to catch those brats. For now..." He sat down. "Start scanning for another emerald"  
Nervously, Sleet replied. "Ah...yes sir..."

Back at the hotel, the Sonic Underground, along with their new friends, were watching the news, as the reporter went on about the mysterious rain of green mist, and of the earthquake following it.  
"This is so weird," Manic mumbled as they watched.  
Sonic looked to the woman who had saved them earlier. "Thanks again for the save, Ali. We would of been toast if you hadn't whacked Sleet real good"  
She nodded a bit. "Just doing the right thing"  
Shadow, meanwhile, watched Ali with narrowing eyes. "Yes, very helpful..."

Sleet was rubbing his temples while the monitor glowed with a steady light. Dingo had been keeping himself occupied by swatting at a fly that kept buzzing past both of them. The racket of Dingo crushing anything that got in his way of squashing the bug was giving Sleet the migraine from hell. "Cut it OUT, doofus"  
"But I haven't got it yet!" Dingo whined, still swatting at it. The bug actually landed on Sleet's nose, drawing Dingo to swat it away, at the expense of Sleet's snout.  
"OWWW! YOU IDIOT!" Sleet growled, about to slap him when a beeping sound occurred from the console. He ran to it to check on it. "I got another reading from the city...there's a large amount of chaos energy below!" He looked back to Dingo. "You're lucky this is more important, let's go!"

"I got it"  
Sonia's yell dragged everyone back to the TV that she had been watching. "The source of the earthquake! Its centered around the Mystic Forest"  
Ali watched with lavender eyes, her face always hidden behind the hood and scarf of her cloak. "The Mystic Forest? Are you sure"  
Sonia nodded. "Yea. Maybe if we can figure out what's going on out there, we can get some answers to the mysterious mist"  
Ali was rather hesitant. "I don't know, Sonia. Are either events really so odd that they need to be investigated"  
"Hey, when Buttnik's involved, anything is worth checking out!" Sonic said, piping in.  
"I think Ali's afraid to go into the forest!" Manic teased.  
To which Ali flushed heavily under the teasing. "I...I wouldn't say that exactly, Manic"  
Shadow finally spoke. "We'd better check it out. I know the Doctor's been doing a lot of research out there. Maybe it is related"  
To which Sonia latched onto Shadow's arm with a smirk. "I'll go anywhere you go"  
Manic rolled his eyes. "Here we go again"  
Sonic merely watched the two with narrowed eyes, only to be distracted when Ali laid a hand on Sonic's shoulder. "Sonic"  
There was a sudden explosion that rocked the hotel, causing Sonic to pull away from Ali and dart to the window, looking down. "Uh oh, looks like Sleet and Dingbat are back for round two"  
"That's it we don't have time to argue on this, we need to get out of here and to the Mystic Forest," Sonia pointed out.  
"Yea, let's bail!" Sonic called.

Sleet was watching the windows of the hotel with binoculars, which was really a shape shifted Dingo, before Sleet put him down and changing him back. "They're coming downstairs! I need you to block the main doors"  
"Uh, okay!" Dingo said, running off to the main door, to wait on the hedgehogs.

Sonic and the others came from the elevator, only to be stopped when they found Dingo blocking the entrance. "Not so fast, hedgehogs"  
Naturally, the moment his eyes laid on Sonia, he began to grin rather stupidly. "Soooonia"  
Sonic blinked and looked back to Sonia, a plan forming in his head. Sonia could only look back at her brother, swallow hard, and cling to an annoyed Shadow rather tightly.

Apparently while the group was distracted with Dingo at the front, Sleet and a troop of SWATbots came from the back entrance, approaching the group. Grinning, he aimed his laser right at Sonic's back.  
And shot him.  
Sonic's cried out loudly as he fell over, trying to reach for the burn mark on his back that was causing him great pain. Manic yelped. "SONIC"  
Manic was suddenly grabbed by a SWATbot, along with the pained Sonic as the others backed away, out of reach. Naturally, Dingo grabbed Sonia, first chance she got. Sleet grinned as he approached the caught trio, Shadow and Ali backed against a wall. "FINALLY...we have all three hedgehogs, AND the chaos emerald to boot"  
He looked at Shadow with a grin. "Thank you for all your help, Shadow. We would never have caught the Sonic Underground without you"  
Everyone but Sonic looked at Shadow, glaring as Shadow folded his arms, stepping forward, glaring at Sleet. "Well, I'm quite glad you approve. Considering this wasn't exactly the plan to begin with"  
Ali's eyes was suddenly drawn to Shadow's back, where his hands were folded. One hand gripped a chaos emerald, while the other was jerking a thumb towards Dingo. Her eyes widen and looked towards Dingo, ands slowly reaching behind her back.  
"May not of been the exact plan, but we still have all three hedgehogs. That's all that matters"  
"Yea well there's one flaw in that plan..." Shadow mumbled, to which Sleet blinked. "Huh"  
Suddenly he pulled a hand out, growling. "CHAOS SPEAR"  
A rain of lightning struck at Sleet and the SWATbots. Sleet yelped, his fur frying on contact while the SWATbots short-circuited, dropping both Sonic and Manic. Shadow darted forward, catching Sonic in his arms. "GOTCHA"  
Sonic blinked as he looked up to Shadow, staring at him. "Y-you"  
"Talk later, let's just get out of here!" Shadow said as he looked towards Dingo, who still gripped Sonia. Dingo swallowed hard, gripping Sonia tight and starting to back up. "Uh oh-OOF"  
Once again, the crack of a staff hitting a skull was heard as Dingo dropped Sonia, following over, Ali stepping over the fallen bounty hunter. "Let's get out of here"  
"I got a better idea!" Shadow said, before grabbing a hold of the others, Sonic still in one arm, upright now before he gripped his chaos emerald. "CHAOS CONTROL"  
They disappeared in a flash of light.

A flash of light appeared just outside the city, and Shadow and the others appeared, looking rather dazed and confused.  
"Whoa...what was that?" Manic murmured before Shadow laid Sonic down on his stomach, looking at the wound on his back.  
Sonic hissed from the pain, but he growled through his teeth. "You...lied"  
Shadow merely held his hand over the wound, causing Sonic to writhe with pain. "Be still"  
"You're hurting him!" Sonia cried, trying to rush forward, only to be grabbed by Ali.  
"Sonia, be still!" she soothed.  
Shadow closed his eyes, concentrating while holding his emerald with one hand. There was a glow before Sonic stilled. Sonia gripped her hands together, afraid. "Sonic"  
Sonic groaned as Shadow pulled away, his back healed up. He rolled over onto his back, looking up. "Hey...the pain is gone"  
"You're welcome," Shadow mumbled before turning away, standing up.  
Sonic sat up, staring at the black hedgehog. "You...saved me"  
Shadow turned around, looking at Sonic. "You really think I'd wanna work with those morons? Please"  
Finally he offered his hand to Sonic. "Don't we have an earthquake to investigate"  
Sonic looked at Shadow, right into his eyes before he nodded, grasping Shadow's hand and standing up. "You're right...let's go!"

"WHAT HAPPENED?!" Robotnik screamed as he looked at a view screen of Sleet and Dingo and trashed SWATbots.  
"Shadow! We had the hedgehogs and he turned on us, escaping with them!" Sleet whined. "Its all his fault"  
"YOU IDIOT!" Robotnik yelled. "We have a SPECIFIC PLAN to follow and you DELIBERATELY DISOBEYED ME"  
Robotnik sighed, growling. "Get back to the Egg Carrier, NOW. We need to find those Chaos Emeralds!"

Resting under a tree, the Sonic Underground had decided to stop and take a rest, having been walking for a few hours. The moon rose high in the sky, filtering through the treetops. Sonic yawned and he relaxed.  
Ali, looking around rather nervously, laid eyes on Shadow, who was sitting a rather far distance away. Her eyes softened as he knelt beside Sonic. "It seems that your new friend is feeling rather solitary, Sonic"  
Sonic looked up, looking towards Shadow. "I donno, Ali...something's not right about him"  
Ali was quiet for a moment. "Maybe...but he did save your life...even if he's up to no good, you still have a chance to make an impression on him, so he'll do the right thing"  
Sonic looked up at her. "Really? You think so"  
She nodded. "Go talk to him"  
Sonic nodded, slowly standing up and headed over towards Shadow. "Hey"  
Shadow looked up at him, looking mildly surprised. "Sonic...hi"  
Sonic sat down next to him. "You look like you could use a friend"  
Shadow looked away, quiet. "Why would you want to be friends with someone like me"  
"Eh, just a crazy notion," Sonic shrugged, looking at Shadow, who looked back at him.  
"And how do you know I won't turn you into the Doctor"  
"I don't"  
Shadow blinked. "Then why take that chance"  
Sonic laid his hand on Shadow's shoulder. "Call me crazy, but I think deep down, you're a good person"  
"You're crazy"  
Sonic smirked. "How so"  
Shadow sighed. "The Doctor found me, released me from a frozen prison. I owe my life to him"  
Sonic frowned. "Shadow, just because someone freed you, doesn't make them the right person to work with. He's just using you"  
"Story of my life"  
"What"  
Shadow looked up at him and shook his head. "Forget it. Why are you telling me all this"  
"Cause you need a real friend"  
Shadow looked at him as Sonic continued. "From the moment you do your job, Robotnik's gonna robotisize you. Me, my sibs? We'll always be with you, 100 percent"  
Shadow's face finally softened. "Can it really be that simple"  
Sonic finally smiled. "It can be...if you'll let us"  
Shadow looked at him for a few minutes before slowly nodding.  
Ali, meanwhile, was sitting with Sonia, who was looking at a ring in her hand. "What is that"  
"My old engagement ring," Sonia murmured. Ali looked at her. "You have it, yet not wear it...how come"  
Sonia closed her eyes. "Bartleby...I want to be with him, but he keeps taking up the wrong side. I don't know what to think anymore"  
Ali's eyes softened. "I see..." She became quiet. "Love is a complicated thing. I know what its like. All I can say is to give it time. Things will become clear in time"  
Manic, all by himself, merely relaxed, only moments before he felt a blade press to his back. "Don't move."

Ali was still talking to Sonia when she heard a commotion coming from the boys. Looking up from her conversation, she saw a blue hedgehog that WASN'T Sonic holding Manic at knifepoint, confronting Sonic and Shadow.  
"Just STAY there!" The stranger growled, holding onto Manic. "You're all intruders in this forest"  
"Look guy, just calm down," Sonic tried to reason, fearing first for his brother's safety. Sonia gasped from behind Ali. "Oh no, what're we going to do"  
"JULES"  
Completely startled from Ali's outburst, the stranger dropped the knife, letting Manic go. Manic immediately grabbed the knife and backed away, defending himself. But the stranger merely looked back at the outburst. "Ali"  
"You know, ah...know each other?" Sonic guessed.  
"More than you know, Sonic," Ali admitted.  
"Yea, you can never forget being married to a woman like that," the hedgehog muttered.  
Sonia looked to Ali, startled. "Married"  
Ali nodded grudgingly. "Yes, he is my husband"  
"What's wrong, Ali? Finally decided you needed me now, now that everything's spun out of control?" Jules spat venomously.  
Sonic leaned into Shadow, muttering. "I take it the marriage went south"  
"Literally," Shadow agreed, watching as Jules and Ali approached each other.  
"Oh don't hold yourself so high, Jules. We weren't looking for you," Ali said, folding her arms.  
"We?" Jules asked, before looking up to the Sonic Underground. "Oh, right, you're little posse. And they are"  
"The Sonic Underground. Sonic, Sonia, and Manic...and their new friend Shadow," Ali introduced them. Then she added rather lowly. "Queen Aleena's children"  
Jules looked at them, gaping. "CHILDREN?" He threw his head back, laughing, puzzling the other hedgehogs before Jules looked back at Ali. "Is THAT how they're being introduced is it? Queen Aleena's children, HAH"  
Ali glared at him. "Jules, don't make a scene"  
Jules only laughed. "I cannot help it, ALI. After everything that's happened"  
Sonic folded his arms, not too amused by the hedgehog's crazed laughter. "What's so funny"  
Jules looked at Sonic with an unreadable smirk. "Kid, really. Do you have ANY IDEA"  
"Jules, what's with the earthquake in the Mystic Forest?" Ali interrupted.  
Jules turned back at her, blinking. "The earthquake? I donno, I been trying to figure that out as well...why, what's going on"  
"Robotnik is up to something. We think the earthquake is related to a major plan he's plotting"  
Jules blinked. "Wait wait wait, back up. Who's Robotnik"  
Every hedgehog looked at Jules blankly. Ali slapped her face. "Julian, dear. Its Julian"  
Now Jules was the one to carry a blank expression on his face. "Warlord Julian? What would he be doing all the way out here"  
Ali closed her eyes. "You been in this forest for way too long"  
Sonic started to ask a question, only to be cut off by Ali. "Can you take us to the source of the earthquake"  
"Only if you explain to me later what the heck's going on," Jules finally agreed.  
"Us too, " Sonic muttered to himself.

Traveling through the forest, Jules admitted to wanting to make a pit stop, wanting to check up on something. What they encountered was a hidden lagoon, with tiny blue creatures waddling about. Sonia was in immediate awe. "Oh they're so ADORABLE"  
Jules smiled a bit. "This is the secret garden of the chao"  
Ali looked to one that was sitting at her feet and picked it up. "Jules, they're so cute"  
"I been taking care of them every now and again"  
Ali looked at Jules in surprise. "Jules...I"  
Manic pointed to one in a tree. "Look out, its gonna fall"  
"I'll catch it!" Sonic grinned, ready to bound off.  
-when a blue blur speeded him, and Jules caught the chao midair.  
Sonic's jaw dropped as Jules came back with a smirk, holding the chao. "You were saying"  
Ali merely held her forehead to her hand, groaning as the other hedgehogs gaped at him. Jules handed the chao to Sonia. "They say the chao are the children of Chaos...a great and powerful god that protected them and the Seven Chaos and the Controller"  
Sonic blinked. "The Seven Chaos? What's that"  
Jules smiled. "Fortune and glory, kid. They say its power can perform miracles." He sighed, looking out. "In fact, its said that they were jewels that powerful warriors were after. In the process, many of the chao were hurt or killed, angering the god Chaos. In his rage, he nearly destroyed the world, but a princess sealed him in the Controller. They say that the Controller is in a place called Angel Island, but no one's been able to find it"  
Sonia blinked as she took in the story. Somehow, something about the story made the place sound familiar somehow...

While Ali was discussing with Jules about what was going on, Sonic decided to make himself busy by checking out the garden. Shadow was following not too far behind as he talked. "You been rather quiet"  
"Who is he, Shadow?" Sonic murmured, climbing further up the tree. "He shows up out of nowhere, looks like me, talks like me...he even runs like me! I feel like I been cloned"  
Shadow folded his arms. "I have theories...the problem is that Ali's not letting anyone edge in a question towards him. Whatever's going on between them seems to be pretty deep"  
Shadow scooted himself up along the branch that was hanging over the lake, trying to get a closer look at another chao that looked like it was about to fall. "Yea well, its been irritating the crap out of me. I'd wish they'd just find a way to settle their differences so we can focus on the mission at hand"  
Sonic was startled when the chao he was after suddenly started fluttering away like no one's business, and fell right off the branch and into the water. Shadow blinked, looking into the water. "Sonic! Sonic are you alright"  
He wasn't coming up. "Sonic"  
"What happened?" Ali and the others were running up, some of the chao staring at the noise of commotion.  
"Sonic was climbing a tree and he fell into the water"  
"WHAT"  
"Sonic can't swim"  
Shadow gaped, looking to the water and realized Sonic was NOT coming up. That did it, he had to dive in after him.  
Deep down, a panicking Sonic was sinking fast, unable to get himself to go up. Unable to hold his breath much longer, things were starting to go fuzzy and dark.  
Shadow found the sinking hedgehog, grabbed him, and quickly pulled him to the surface and onto land.  
"Sonic"  
"He's not breathing"  
Shadow was worried for real now, looking down at the pale hedgehog before quickly performing CPR on him. After pumping his chest a few times, he held Sonic's nose and connected lips to breathe into him.  
It seemed like eternity, give Sonic air. Shadow had no idea how much time passed before Sonic suddenly started hacking up water, breathing in deeply. "Sonic"  
Shadow picked him up into his arms, looking down at him. "Sonic...you're okay now"  
Sonic coughed a few more times, bleary eyes looking up at the face of his savior. "Sha-Shadow"  
Shadow nodded a bit. "You're okay now"  
Sonic smiled weakly, nodding in agreement.

Jules, sighing in big relief, wandered over to a tree to sit down, fingers rubbing at his temples. "Man, what a night"  
"Jules"  
Ali was coming over, sitting next to him. Jules looked at her. "When"  
Ali blinked. "When what"  
"When were they born"  
"All three were born just seven months after you left"  
Jules blinked. "All three? Triplets"  
Ali nodded. Jules looked out longingly, a tear in his eye. "Are they"  
"Yes," Ali admitted, sighing.  
Jules became quiet. "Do they know"  
"They CAN'T know"  
Jules looked at Ali in alarm. "Why not"  
"For them to find out...for them to find ME before its time, could mean certain death for them...Julian seeks to do great harm to them.  
Jules looked back. "About that...why would Julian want to harm our family"  
"Julian took over after you left, Jules"  
Dead silence. "...what"  
Ali sighed. "He took advantage after you left, moving in to take over the kingdom only weeks after the children's birth...we been on the run ever since. The Oracle said"  
"I am such an idiot!" Jules suddenly said, slapping his forehead.  
"Jules"  
"The pictures!" Jules said looking at her. "The ones you showed me showing me with that woman...who gave you those pictures"  
"Ju...lian..." Ali said slowly. "And Julian"  
"Gave me those pictures of you with Charles!" Jules concluded.  
Ali's eyes widen, staring at him. "He planned this whole thing! Without you there, and with me carrying, there was no way he could be stopped"  
Jules suddenly held her. "Ali, I'm SO SORRY"  
"I am too, Jules!" she cried, holding him.

Off in the far distance, Sonia and Manic were sitting, thinking of everything that was happening.  
"I'm trying to wrap my brain around this. That earthquake meant something...but what?" Sonia mused.  
"Don't forget the green dust," Manic reminded. His eyes were drawing to the lake water, watching it carefully as his sister babbled on. Slowly the waters he watched began to stir...slowly at first, but when it began to whirl like an underwater spout, Manic jumped from out of his daze. "AGH"  
Sonia blinked, looking to her brother in confusion. "Manic, what's wrong"  
"Look at the water! Its moving!" Manic pointed. Sonia looked.  
Nothing was there.  
"I don't see anything"  
Manic blinked, looking back to the water. "But...but"  
Suddenly a hand laid on his shoulder. Manic looked up to see Jules standing there.

Robotnik, meanwhile, was looking on a screen while Sleet and Dingo were doing some searching, before a large blip formed on the screen. "I'm picking up a lot of chaos energy coming from the Mystic Forest!" Sleet reported.  
"Its them! That's where they are! Prepare the Egg Carrier! I want those emeralds!"

"-and the water just started swirling really fast!" Manic said, talking to Jules in private. Jules put his hand to his chin.  
"You're probably not imagining things, Manic. I seen power like that before...its something special inside you that you have"  
Manic blinked. "A special power? Really"  
Jules nodded. "Yea...its hard to explain...but maybe I can help you explore this power...I know some things on it"  
"Man...if I have power that can help the resistance..." Manic looked at his hands before looking to Jules. "I'll do it"  
"Hey guys?" Sonic approached the two, with Shadow hovering nearby. Manic looked up. "Yea, bro"  
"We're headed back to the city. We still can't find anything relating to the earthquake. We're gonna try and get some answers from the resistance"  
Jules stood up as Manic did. "I'll go with you. It seems I been in the forest WAY too long. Besides, I prefer a good fight"  
Sonic grinned. "You and me both"  
Jules smirked, about to reply when his ears twitched, looking up. "I hear something..."

Sleet's ship approached the forest, arming laser. "I have the hedgehogs in my sight. They must have more chaos emeralds..."

Sonic gasped as he looked up. "That's Sleet and Dingo's ship"  
Jules looked to Sonic. "The bounty hunters? Get outta here! What would they be doing way out here"  
"Jules, I hate to burst your bubble, but they're with Robotnik," Ali pointed out.  
"Oh," Jules deflated, concerning Sonic as he looked to him.  
Suddenly a warning came from Sleet's ship. "Surrender the chaos emeralds immediately hedgehogs, or prepare to be robotisized!"

Sleet on board decided that a warning shot would get his message through. The blast from a laser knocked a tree over, startling the chao, who wailed, running about. Sonic's eyes narrowed. "They're gonna hurt the chao if we don't stop them"  
Jules looked over to Manic, grabbing his hand. "Come with me, I got an idea"  
"What?! What can I do?!" Manic stumbled.

Sleet growled, grabbing a microphone. "They're not going to give in. ALL GUNNERS, PREPARE TO FIRE!"

Jules pulled Manic to the edge of the lake, holding his hands out. "Manic, do what I do and concentrate on the water! Imagine a huge tornado forming out of the water"  
"What?! I can't do that!" Manic yelled, laser fire all around him.  
"You can do it, Manic! You have the power!" Jules encouraged.  
Swallowing and closing his eyes, Manic decided to try, Jules doing the same.  
Meanwhile, Shadow was taking a grip at his emerald, ready to shoot down the ship, when he was suddenly grabbed from behind by Sonic, and thrown out of the way of a laser blast, thrown to the ground with Sonic shielding him. Shadow gasped, looking upward at the contact with the other hedgehog, before seeing the laser blast where he was standing. Sonic let him up as Shadow stared at him. "You...saved me"  
Sonic nodded. "You would of done the same for me"  
Shadow stared at him before nodding quietly.  
Suddenly a strong gust of wind drew the hedgehogs' attention to the lake, where a HUGE waterspout was forming. Sonic gasped, seeing Jules and Manic at the base. "...Manic...?"

Up on the ship, Sleet yelps when he sees the tornado. "WHAT THE-PULL UP!!" Sleet grabbed the stick, pulling his ship away from the waterspout.

Once Sleet had left, Jules gave the call to Manic to stop.  
He did, but ended up fainting in the process. Jules himself fell to his knees, weak as Sonic and the others ran to them. "Manic"  
Sonic knelt beside his brother while Ali ran to Jules. "Are you alright"  
"What was that?" Sonic asked, holding the unconscious Manic and looking to Jules.  
"Elemental control. Your brother has the ability," Jules said wearily, as Ali helped him to his feet. "That was a powerful one, it was too much for him...he'll be okay, he just needs rest"  
Shadow looked around, laying a hand on Sonic. "We'll all be a lot better off back in the city"  
Sonic nodded in agreement. "Can you get us back there, Shadow"  
Shadow nodded. "It'll take a drain on me, but I can do it. I could use a rest anyway"  
Gathering everyone in, Shadow gripped his chaos emerald, and then chaos controlled from the Mystic Forest.

Once everyone was settled back in the hotel, Shadow approached Sonic, laying a hand on his shoulder. "Sonic, can I talk to you in private"  
Sonic nodded, and left the room with Shadow.  
Sonia sighed, looking back to her brother before looking to Ali. "Think we can trust Shadow"  
"I have a feeling that Shadow's going to turn out alright," Ali said.  
"Sonic seems to trust him," Jules pointed out.  
Manic stirs, moaning. "Oh...my head"  
Sonia looked over him. "Manic!" She hugged him. "Are you alright"  
Manic nodded, sighing. "Just feel like a truck hit me"  
"That's the power of elemental control, boy. Usually you'd need to start small and work your way up, but I needed you for a control of that magnitude," Jules admitted.  
Manic nodded, slowly sitting up. "Yea...I could feel that power...it was awesome..." He looked up to Jules. "You said you could teach me more"  
"Jules..." Ali interrupted, looking at him. "I'm not sure if Manic is ready for that kind of power"  
"Oh come on Ali!" Manic said, trying to stand now with Sonia's help. "All this time, Sonic and Sonia had their own special talents. Its my turn to finally be able to do something"  
Sonia sighed. "Talk about your blind ambition"  
Manic looked at Sonia at that, a slow smile creeping across his lips as he touched his medallion.

_I wanna change the world,  
I wanna find my pearl,  
I wanna be the one who In the end gets a pretty girl..._

_Don't wanna be outdone,  
I wanna be second to none,  
I wanna be the hero not a zero To anyone_

_But I'm subtraction by addition,  
And I'm a pretty bad magician,  
I haven't figured out my mission,  
Just another boy with blind ambition_

_Oh, o-o-oh oh oh oh oh o-o-oh oh oh oh,  
Hai! Hai! Hai! Hai!_

_I wanna take the throne,  
And hock a microphone,  
I wanna sing the greatest record You will ever own_

_I wanna cure all ills,  
And have my face on a dollar bill,  
I wanna be the zen master,  
Not that fool up on the hill_

_I don't want you to sign my petition,  
And I'm turnin' up the road to perdition,  
I wanna be the new rendition,  
Just another boy with blind ambition_

_Oh, o-o-oh oh oh oh oh o-o-oh o-o-oh oh oh oh oh o-o-oh o-o-oh oh oh oh oh o-o-oh oh oh oh,_

_Hai! Hai! Hai! Hai!_

_It's a feelin' in me!  
It's a feelin' in you!  
Everyone is tryin' to find their place And stake their claim!_

_OH!!_

_I wanna take the throne,  
And hock a microphone,  
I wanna sing the greatest record You will ever own_

_I wanna change the world,  
I gotta gotta find my pearl,  
I wanna be the one who In the end gets a pretty girl..._

_But I'm subtraction by addition,  
And I'm a pretty bad magician,  
And I'm waiting for an intermission,  
Just another boy with blind ambition,_

_I don't want you to sign my petition,  
And I'm turnin' up the road to perdition,  
And I wanna be the new rendition,  
Just another boy with blind ambition_

_Oh oh oh, Just another.  
Just just just another boy.  
Oh oh,  
Just another boy with blind ambi-  
Justa justa just another boy with blind ambi-  
Justa justa just another boy with blind ambition..._

_It's a feeling in me! It's a feeling in you!_

_Oh-oh-oh.  
Oh-oh-oh.._

_Hai! Hai! Hai! Hai!_

_Oh-oh-oh.  
Oh-oh-oh.._

That night, Shadow sneaked off to radio into Robotnik to report.  
"Okay Doctor, I believe we're getting close. I completely won over Sonic's trust, and the others are sure to follow. Just make sure those two idiots don't try to blow my cover again..."

To Be Continued...

"Blind Ambition" is from the Yu-Gi-Oh! the Movie Original Soundtrack.


	3. A New Venture, Part 3: Betrayal

-1Last time, on Sonic Underground CHAOS:

That night, Shadow sneaked off to radio into Robotnik to report.

"Okay Doctor, I believe we're getting close. I completely won over Sonic's trust, and the others are sure to follow. Just make sure those two idiots don't try to blow my cover again..."

AND NOW, THE CONCLUSION...

--

Sonic Underground CHAOS

A New Venture, Part 3  
Betrayal

written by Sonic Remix

Sonic the Hedgehog and related characters and indicia © and ™ 1991-2008 SEGA - Sonic Team

--

Robotnik glared at Sleet and Dingo, marching back and forth. "You two idiots never bother to follow orders! You were to wait for Shadow to bring US the hedgehogs, and instead you nearly blow his cover! If you screw up ONE MORE TIME-"  
"Wait sir!" Sleet called, in which Robotnik looked at him. Sleet handed him a pad. "This was taken from ship surveillance of the fight!"  
Robotnik snagged the pad, taking a look at it, and nearly paled at what he saw...an older male hedgehog. "No...it can't be..." He looked at Sleet. "Send a battalion to the Mystic Forest! I want this hedgehog found and robotisized!"

Sleet stared. "Yes sir...but what if the Sonic Underground try to help him??"  
Robotnik grinned. "Oh...don't worry about them...I have something special in mind to keep THEM busy..."

"AGH!"  
Sonic yelped as a column of water slammed him against the wall of a building. As the water withdrew, he groaned and stood up, emerald eyes focusing towards a strange creature made of water. He mumbled. "Its like a nightmare come true..."

Shadow and the other ran to Sonic's side, facing off the creature. They had been out, headed for the Burger Shop when the thing attacked out of nowhere. Sonic touched his medallion, his guitar appearing in a flash. "If I can't spindash it-"

He shot the guitar laser, nailing the floating pink brain in the creature's head. It splashed apart into a pool of water, sliding about before reforming on the other side of the courtyard they were fighting in. It suddenly shot an arm out, hitting Sonic square in the chest and into another wall, hard. "AGH!"

The arm retreated, and Shadow ran to Sonic's side, helping him to his feet. "You okay, Sonic??"

Sonic nodded, looking to Shadow wearily. "Yea, that thing packs a punch."  
Shadow nodded before tugging on his arm. "Let's go."  
Meanwhile, Manic was standing with Jules. Jules stared at the creature hard in concentration before parting his arms out to the side.

Manic stared as the creature headed for them. "Nothing's happening! Why isn't anything happening?"  
Jules shook his head, backing up and grabbing Manic to get him away as well. "Its a powerful creature, I can't manipulate anything!"

Sonia ran past them, headed for the creature. "Sonic found the weakness. Hit the brain!" She leapt up, delivering a powerful roundhouse kick to the head. She landed on her feet as it broke apart into a puddle again, sliding away. "Yes!" She looked down at her feet, which were soaking wet. "My new boots! ARGH!"

The creature reformed from the puddle, glaring at Sonia now and ready to attack her, before another staff crack from behind, and the creature broke apart, Ali behind it.

Manic smirked, running up to Ali as the creature slid away, finally having enough and slipping into a sewer grate. "Is that the only move you know how to pull, Ali?"  
"I admit, I was never much of a fighter. But its like I always say, go with what you know."  
Jules smirked, folding his arms. "You always say that?"  
The others laughed before Manic spoke. "But what WAS that thing anyway?"  
Jules sighed gravely. "I think...it was Chaos."  
Sonia and Manic gasped, looking at him. "The creature from your story? But how...why?"  
"The earthquake!" Ali spoke. "It must of been some kind of explosion that set the creature free!"  
"But that would mean Robotnik found the location of this 'Angel Island'." Sonia frowned. "But that doesn't explain the green mist..."  
Manic finally looked around. "Yo, where's Sonic and Shadow??"  
The others looked around for a few minutes, before a Robotnik Prison Transport flew overhead, the others gasping. "SONIC!!"

Manic speeded down the road in his van, speeding full force back to Robotropolis. In the back, Sonia was marching back and forth, growling.

"He tricked us!" she yelled. "He was trying to get to us, and now he got Sonic!"  
"Don't worry, Sonia. We're gonna get him back!" Ali spoke, trying to calm her down.

Jules, who was sitting in the back, moved up front to sit with Manic, looking around at the strange metallic buildings. "Where are we?"  
"Robotropolis. It goes on for miles," Manic said.

"RObotropolis?" Jules questioned.  
"Its what Mobotropolis used to be..." Manic said.

Jules gaped, looking around. "This is Mobotropolis?? No no NO!"  
He held his head into his hands. "I should of never left!"  
"Hey, its not your fault," Manic spoke. "Robuttnik's just too crafty. Its like there was much any of us could do."  
"Oh believe me," Jules said gravely. "There could of been so much I could of done..."  
A hand laid on Jules's shoulder, and he looked up at Ali. "Its not your fault. Let's just concentrate on finding Sonic..."  
Jules finally nodded and turned his head away, hiding a tear coming down his cheek.

Manic stowed the van back at the safe house before they headed for the main citadel. As they walked, Jules looked around, noticing various aristocracy members going about their business, while some of the less fortunate were hiding from SWATbot patrols.

"Cowards," he mumbled, glaring towards the aristocrats. "Traitors, all of them."  
"Not everyone can fight Robotnik," Sonia said.

Jules looked back at her. "You actually defend this...cowardly act of treason?!"

"I grew up in the aristocracy!" Sonia hissed.  
"At least you chose to fight back," Jules mumbled, heading on.

Sonia stopped for a moment, looking to Ali. "What's his problem?"  
"Jules...was once a very loyal soldier to the kingdom, long long before Robotnik took over," Ali admitted.

Sonia rolled her eyes. "Well if he was so loyal, what was he doing hiding in the Mystic Forest all these years?"  
Ali sighed. "I'm...afraid I was the one who drove him away."

"Yo, can we check out Memory Lane LATER? We gotta find Sonic!" Manic called back, opening a grate. The others followed him in.

Sonic stood in the holding tube of the robotisizer machine, just folding his arms and glaring at Shadow as he stood at the controls, typing in some commands.

The door opened, and Robotnik came in, grinning and laughing. "Well well...the hedgehog at last. I been waiting a long time for this, rodent!"

Sonic merely turned his eyes to glare at Robotnik.

"What, no snide comebacks? No witty banter? Truly, boy, you disappoint me."

"Trust me, Buttnik. You're not worth it," Sonic grumbled.

"Oh come now, hedgehog. You'll get over me...when you're a robot," Shadow smirked, continuing to work.

"You are SUCH a faker, Faker!" Sonic yelled back.

"Faker, am I? You think you're better than me? Hah! You're not even good enough to be MY fake!" Shadow smirked.

Sonic slammed against the tube. "Wanna bet, Faker?!"  
"ENOUGH!" Robotnik yelled, shutting up both hedgehogs. "Robotisize him, now!"  
"Why do that? His siblings are surely on their way to rescue him. Why don't we wait and lure them in, and THEN robotisize them all at once?" Shadow reasoned.

Robotnik smirked. "What a devious plan...you must have my grandfather's genius after all..." He patted Shadow on the head before leaving.

Sonic glared right back at Shadow. "And what's THAT supposed to mean?"

Out in the Mystic Forest, Sleet's ship landed in a clearing, a hatch opening as robots came out. Sleet stood up at the controls. "Spread out! That hedgehog's been hiding out here somewhere! Find him!"

"But Sleet! What if one of those tornado things come after us again?!" Dingo whined.

"He's not that powerful. If he was, he could of done a lot more damage..." Sleet said, settling back down at the controls, deep in thought. "I remember him...he was the best soldier of the Royal Army. He and I did battle plenty of times..."

A gate busted open from above, and Manic leaped into the computer room, followed by the others. Manic ran for a computer, hacking into the system. "This is too easy."  
"I'll say. Can anyone say 'trap'?" Sonia asked, looking around.

"There's nothing that Julian can throw at us that I can't handle," Jules said, folding his arms and tapping his foot.

Sonia looked back at him and shivered. "You sound so much like Sonic, its not even funny."

"I'm not surprised," Jules grinned.

"Yo, I found him!" Manic called, bringing up a screen on the monitor. They gasped when they found that Sonic was in the robotisizer room. "No...not the Robotisizer!!"  
Jules turned his head to one side. "Ro...bot...isizer?"

Manic turned to Jules, looking at him gravely. "Its this wicked machine that can turn people into robots. They lose their free will and become slaves of Robotnik!"  
Sonia laid a hand on Jules's shoulder. "Its what happens to people if they don't pay the taxes..."

Fists tightened as Jules glared towards the door. "What section is he in?"  
Manic typed in some commands. "Level 6, Section 8."  
Suddenly, Jules grabbed all three of them before taking off down the hallway in a blue of blue.

Shadow continued to type up some commands, before murmuring softly. "Transfer complete."

Pressing a button, a small disc popped out. Shadow loaded it into his data pad, before looking up to Sonic.

Jules blurred down the hallway, right to the door of the Robotisizer room. Letting go of the others, he went into a tornado spin, launching himself at the door and knocking it down. Sonia stared as Jules marched in, glaring as Shadow. "LET HIM GO!"  
Shadow smirked, turning towards Jules as Sonic stood in the tube, staring towards the blue hedgehog. "So glad you could make it. You're just in time for the show."  
Turning to the console, Shadow hit a button. The Robotisizer started to come on. Jules screamed.

"NO!!"

Robotnik, followed by a patrol of SWATbots, made his way to the Robotisizer room. Having seen a blue blur, he thought that Sonic had escaped, and was coming to check on Shadow. Upon entering, there was a blur of commotion. First, a flash of light and glass exploding. Moments later, there was a green flash. Then came the explosion that knocked Robotnik off his feet, along with the SWATbots. When he got to his feet, he saw that the Robotisizer machine had exploded. He ran to the console to run a check. It had been concluded that after a transfer of data files to a disk, a virus had been launched to wipe away data and send a power feedback to the Robotisizer after it had been activated.

This was sabotage.

Back in the Mystic Forest, there was a flash of green light, before all the hedgehogs appeared. Jules rubbed at his eyes, blinking in confusion before looking around. "What? We're back in the forest!"

As Manic, Sonia, and Ali were getting their bearing, Jules looked ahead, and spotted Shadow. "YOU!!"  
He dashed forward, ready to barrel Shadow over with a right hook, before another blue blur darted RIGHT in front of him. Emerald eyes glared into brown as Jules screeched to a halt. "Sonic?!"  
"Don't hurt him! He's on our side!"

Jules looked at him, bewildered. "Are you crazy, boy?! All that he done-"

"-was a deception." Sonic interrupted. The other blinked.

As the others walked through the forest, Sonic was explaining the situation to them. "Shadow and I had planned this the other night, pretending to be captured so we could get to the Robotisizer. he had to gather information for us from the computers, and at the same time sabotage the Robotisizer."  
Sonia whacked him behind the head. "Why didn't you tell us this before?!"  
Shadow looked at her. "The deception had to be as real as possible, including your reactions. I knew you guys had to come after him, otherwise the Doctor would know something was up. Still, we succeeded, Sonic's alright, and that's all that matters."  
"Robotnik must know you betrayed him then," Jules added.

Shadow shrugged. "I don't care. I belong here...with you guys."

Sonic beamed rather brightly at this statement. "Yea, welcome to the team, Shadow!"

"He's on his way to the Mystic Forest, I know it!" Robotnik yelled at Sleet and Dingo, talking to him on the comm. "Shadow knows all our plans! I want them found and robotisized, NOW!"  
Sleet grinned. "Yes sir, we'll find them!" He laughed. The Bounty Hunters were back in the lead.

"So why did you bring us here instead of the city?" Jules asked, following Shadow as he lead the way. Sonic gripped at Shadow's hand as they walked.

"Sleet and Dingo are out here looking for you," Shadow said. "They could very well destroy the forest doing so. We have to be able to stop them."  
"Sleet and Dingo are easy to deal with," Sonic said.

Shadow looked at him. "You don't know about the Doctor's new robots."

That's when Sonic stopped. "What new robots?"

A sudden crash, and from behind the trees, what looked like a floating green trashcan with arms came launching at them.

"Like that!" Shadow yelled.

Jules lead the others through the forest in a dead run. He was gripping Ali and Manic while Sonic gripped Shadow and Sonia.

"That's Zero, one of the Doctor's experimental E-Series robots!"

"Where'd it come from though?!" Jules called back.

"Sleet and Dingo must of had it to hunt you down!" Shadow called back.

"Why is Robotnik after you?" Sonic added.

"No time to explain! We gotta get back to my place!" Jules yelled back. He screeched to a halt, looking towards a hill, where a building sat at the top...

Sleet was looking over the monitors, when he saw that one was beeping. "That walking trashcan better not be chasing rodents again..."

He flipped on the screen and noticed that Zero was chasing after the Sonic Underground. "Well well...maybe it IS the kind of rodents we need..."

At the top of the hill, Jules beat on the door. "Miles, its me! Let us in!"  
The door opened after a moment, and a small, two-tailed orange fox, no older than eight, peered out. "Us?"

Jules pushed in, past the fox. "We got robots after us! I need your help!"  
"Robots?! Really?!" Miles said excitedly, peering past the hedgehogs and out the door.

Jules pulled him back in. "Not the kind you'd want to encounter, now come help me prepare the defenses!"

Miles ran behind Jules, following him downstairs and out of sight. Ali blinked. "He's been taking care of a child."  
Manic folded his arms, watching him. "Well...he does seem like the fatherly type..."

Ali looked at Manic. "Its actually good to hear you say that, Manic."

"Huh, why's that?"

"Yo, forget that. What can we do? That Zero thing's got a SWATbot battalion following it onto the hill."  
"They got us trapped!" Sonia gasped. "What'll we do?"

_No, we cannot see  
Who are we, to look to_

_No, it cannot hear  
What is to believe in_

_And we keep dreamin' of a world  
Where all that's good so we were told  
We need a hero_

_And we keep dreamin' of a time  
Where good is all that we can find  
We need a...  
We need a...  
Hero_

_No, we cannot tell  
Who's the one to lead us_

_But you know that we'll be there  
Waiting for them to find us_

_And we keep dreamin' of a world  
Where all that's good so we were told_

_We need a hero_

_And we keep dreamin' of a time  
Where good is all that we can find  
We need a...  
We need a...  
Hero_

_Instrumental_

_And we keep dreamin' of the world  
Where all that's good so we were told  
We need a hero_

_And we keep dreamin' of a time  
Where good is all that we can find  
We need a hero_

_And we keep dreamin' of a world  
Where all that's good so we were told  
We need a hero_

_And we keep dreamin' of a time  
Where good is all that we can find  
We need a...  
We need a...  
Hero_

Outside, Sleet had shifted Dingo into a megaphone and was yelling at them. "Surrender, hedgehogs! We have you surrounded. You can't take us all on this time, even with your weapons and power!"  
Suddenly the ground began to shake, and ground began to part in several areas. Two very large turrets rose up, before guns pointed at them. Sleet swallowed before Jules poked his head out from out a turret window. "Mr. Sleet, you should know by now that I am the LAST person you wanna face off. I'd advise that you, your shape-shifting lapdog, and the walking trashcan vacate the premises now, or I'll slag ya, just like the last time we fought."

Sleet, gaping, was about to say something, when a shot from the other turret hit several SWATbots, causing them to explode. Sleet looked at the other turret, seeing the fox poke his head up. "He taught me some of his best moves!"

"Err-"

A shot at Sleet's feet from Jules convinced him as he turned tail. "OUTTA HERE!"

Miles, smirking, aimed right at Sleet's tail, adjusted the power level of the turret, and fired.

"YOWWWW!!"

Moments after Sleet and Dingo disappeared, they could see the ship rising above the trees, retreating.

The hedgehogs cheered. Sonic grabbed Shadow in a big hug before he gasped, looking up into Shadow's eyes before letting go. Both looked away, blushing badly. Sonia and Manic danced with each other.

Miles came into the room, looking to the celebrating hedgehogs. "Hi everyone!"

Sonic smiled, stepping forward and offering his head. "Hey big guy! That was some awesome shooting back there. Never seen Sleet jump so high in my life. I'm Sonic. This is Sonia, Manic, and Shadow."  
The fox smiled and reached out to shake Sonic's hand. "I'm Miles Prower, but people usually just call me Tails!"

"Tails, a cool name!" Sonic grinned, giving him a thumbs up.

"Thanks. You look a lot like Jules," Tails observed.

"Yea, speaking of which, I wonder why Sleet and Dingbat were after him anyway," Sonic wondered, rubbing his head.

"This is why," Shadow said, pulling out the data pad he had been holding on and handing it to Sonic. He read it over.

"Captain Jules Hedgehog. Born November 14th, 3200. Married on May 28th, 3219 to..."  
Sonic paled as he looked the others. "Princess Aleena."

"You...you mean...?" Sonia asked, before finally whipping her head around wildly. "Mother, Father?!"

Sonic dropped the pad, zipping around the house. "Mom, dad?!"

Manic stood there in stunned silence as Tails called out. "Jules! Where ya?"  
After a moment, the others heard Tails call. "SONIC!"  
They ran in, to find Tails standing there, with a note in hand. He looked up to them. "Its from Jules."  
He looked back down to read it aloud. "Miles, sorry I had to leave so suddenly. I had to move quickly with Ali to head back to Robotropolis. I'm leaving you in the care of my sons and daughter. Consider them like your brothers and sister, and continue to practice what I taught you."  
Tails handed the note off to Sonic for him to continue. "Sonic, though I only known you a day, I'm never more proud than to call you my son. You obviously have a lot of my talent, and leadership skills. And though we've had a rough start, I believe you're in the right hands, working with your new friend Shadow. Take care of each other. I see a lot of potential between the both of you."

A tear rolled down Sonic's cheek as he handed the note to Manic. Shadow laid a hand on Sonic's shoulder, before, quite uncharacteristically, Sonic turned to hug Shadow, burying his face into Shadow's chest. Shadow was stunned, but slowly put his arms around Sonic to comfort him, his face flushing from the close contact.

Manic read on. "Manic, you have a lot of potential in your powers. I will find a way to get back to you to train. Don't try to find me. I'll find you."

Manic handed the note to Sonia, who was already in tears as she read unsteadily. "Sonia, you...are so much like your mother...beautiful, graceful, and a lot of fighting spirit. Someone like you is bound to find true love soon enough. Count on it, but don't be in a rush to chase it...because you need to be sure he will be the right one."

She handed the note back to Manic, crying hard now, as Manic was the only one able to continue. "My children, we've a long way to go, but now we have a fighting chance to bring down Robotnik in the coming months. We will try to keep contact. Keep fighting the good fight. We will be all together soon...love, Mom and Dad..."

From a distant hill, Jules and Aleena watched as the hedgehogs headed outside, moments before Tails tackled Sonic in a big hug, the others welcoming their new little brother. Aleena smiled. "We're that much closer than ever to returning home, Jules..."  
"More than that, my love...we're that much closer to becoming a family again..."

"We Need a Hero" is performed by Aaron Waters for the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Album.


	4. The Princess Bride

-1"And down here is the main monitor room, where we keep an eye on all broadcasts in the city."  
Sonic the Hedgehog was showing Tails and Shadow around the freedom fighter base down in the heart of the city. Shadow looked around quietly while Tails asked about a million questions about how everything worked. Following behind them were Sonia and Manic. Manic was grinning the whole time. "Tails is really loving this."

"Shadow's been really interested too. He's been watching Sonic closely all day," Sonia pointed out.

Manic blinked and looked towards the black hedgehog. "Uh...well-"

All the sudden, all the channels of the monitors flipped over to the view of Robotnik.

"Ugh, who turned on the Ugly Pageant?" Sonic joked, turning to the monitors as Robotnik spoke.

"Attention, citizens of Robotropolis! As you may know, the upcoming birthday of the royal children of Queen Aleena is a significant turn of events in history. As it will be their 18th, time is running out for them to choose to marry and legally take the throne. If they do not, they lose that right forever, and I will be the legal king of Robotropolis! However, I am willing to give the hedgehogs one last chance. Sir Bartleby Monclair has agreed to finally wed his fiancé, Princess Sonia, right here in the palace. If she fails to show, she loses her chance to reclaim the throne."  
As the monitors flipped back to their normal broadcasts, all eyes turned to Sonia, who stood there, stunned.

She has to marry Bartleby?

--

Sonic Underground CHAOS

The Princess Bride

written by Sonic Remix

Sonic the Hedgehog and related characters and indicia © and ™ 1991-2008 SEGA - Sonic Team

--

"Sir, I'm not sure if I can go through with this!" Bartleby protested, standing in the throne room where Robotnik was.

"Oh you'll go through with it, and you will give me control on Coronation Day! If you don't, I will personally see to it that you AND your beloved Sonia are robotisized!"

Bartleby started shaking at this threat. "Y-yes sir!"

Sonia and the others arrived at Bartleby's mansion later that day, bound and determined to talk to him about this. Hitting the call button, she spoke. "BARTLEBY, OPEN THE GATES NOW!"

Shadow leaned into Sonic. "Is this why we opted to leave Tails at the base.

Sonic replied. "Trust me, she gets worse. I don't want the kid scarred for life."

"Alright, Sonia, they're opening!" Bartleby's voice came from the speaker. He sounded a little panicked to hear Sonia so angry.

The gates opened, letting the hedgehogs in and to the mansion.

Bartleby was the one to greet them at the door. "Sonia, darling, sweetheart-"

"Oh don't sweetheart me! What were you THINKING?!"  
"I-I-I...I was only thinking in your best interest, Muffincake!"

"If you really want to think of MY best interest, you would help join in the resistance!" Sonia growled.

"Pumpkin, that's a lost cause! Please, you really need to do this! Its the only way your family can regain the throne!"

Meanwhile, Manic was making himself busy, looking around Bartleby's home. Particularly at the shiny objects. Fingers twitched as he started to reach out and snag an object to steal. From the shadows, a hand reached out, pulling Manic in quickly. "Hey!"

"Manic, its me!"

Manic quickly turned at the sound of the male voice. "Pops!"

Jules gave Manic a quick hug as Sonic and Shadow moved in with Jules and Manic, letting Sonia and Bartleby argue it out. "Hey dad."

He nodded to Sonic. "Hello, son."  
"Pops, whatcha doin here?" Manic asked.

Jules looked back towards Sonia and Bartleby. "Please, you think I want my daughter marry a traitor?"  
Sonic nodded. "I know how ya feel, but is it true what Robotnik said? About losing the rights if we don't marry by our 18th birthday?"  
"Unfortunately. I ended up marrying your mother before her 18th because of that law..." He frowned, watching the two.

"Why would Doc Botnik want to even announce giving us a chance?" Sonic asked.

"He wants to make sure he has total control, to ensure he keeps ruling," Jules said. He doesn't know if you three would know the laws, but he's been feeling threatened ever since I came back, so he doesn't want to take the chance."  
"So this is definitely a trap," Manic concluded.

"Right, so we need a solution fast, because, unfortunately, Julian has us cornered. If we act, Sonia's in trouble. If we don't act, we lose the throne."

Sonia had reluctantly agreed to marry Bartleby, only so she can save her family's claim to the throne. Sonic, Manic, and Shadow escorted the weeping princess from the mansion, leaving Bartleby to collapse in his chair. "What have I done?"

"You should of asked yourself that a long time ago!" A voice called out, causing Bartleby to jump. "Who's there?! I demand you show yourself!"

The blue hedgehog stepped from the shadows, causing Bartleby to glare. "What do you want, Sonic??"

He approached him rather quick, smirking and folding his arms. "Oh, I'm not Sonic, you pompous windbag! I knew Sonia was already engaged to you, but if I find out you're marrying her for the wrong reasons, so help me, you had better WISH I was Sonic!"

"How dare you come and threaten me in my home! I am calling the guard! Who do you think you are?!"  
He started to walk away, before his head turned, smirking. "The father of the bride."

Needless to say, Bartleby froze, white as a sheet as he stared at the hedgehog as he left the room. "The...the...the...oh-!"  
The noble went into a dead faint.

The trio, plus Shadow, looked up at the palace, standing at the gates. Most certainly they were nervous, standing in the lair of the enemy, but Sonia had to do this. Manic gave Sonia a reassuring glance before they set forward, SWATbots escorting them inside. Once they were in a room, the SWATbots stood guard outside, leaving the four hedgehogs to talk amongst themselves. Sonia plopped hard into a chair, eyes watering up. "Oh, what am I going to do, guys? I feel so trapped..."

Sonic touched his medallion, making his guitar appear. "Sing, sis. Sing your feelings out."

_"Stupid me, why did I sign ?" I ask myself as here I find myself sinking in the quicksand of your crime.  
Have I not done enough for you? Now that you've taken the best of me, we're even, so why don't you let me leave?  
Read what you signed - it tells you that you relinquished all your rights.  
I can't breathe, I'm in trouble - I never knew that I could bite off more than I can chew.  
I can't breathe, burst my own bubble - I'm not your fool, I'm through with dancing to your tune.  
We are through.  
How can I have been so blind to fall for all your pompous lines and embrace you only to get stabbed from behind?  
You nailed your victim to the wall and put me on display for all to see - I'm sick of living life behind the eight ball.  
Read what you signed - it tells you that you relinquished all your rights.  
I can't breathe, I'm in trouble - I never knew that I could bite off more than I can chew.  
I can't breathe, burst my own bubble - I'm not your fool, I'm through with dancing to your tune.  
We are through.  
Read what you signed - it tells you that you relinquished all your rights.  
I can't breathe, I'm in trouble - I never knew that I could bite off more than I can chew.  
I can't breathe, burst my own bubble - I'm not your fool, I'm through with dancing to your tune._

Sonia sighed as the trio put their instruments away, folding her arms. "I wish there was a way out of this..."

Shadow watched as Sonia began to break down. His eyes narrowed in thought.

In the corner, Sonic sighed. He felt helpless for once as he watched his sister cry. Manic hugged Sonia tightly as Sonic looked to the window. Suddenly a hand laid on his shoulder. He turned, looking up into Shadow's ruby eyes.

"Shadow?"

"Sonic, I need to speak to you privately, but we can't be here within reach of Robotnik eyes," he said, his head nodding to the door.

"Now? But what about Sonia? She's-"

Shadow held his shoulders gently. "Please? Its very, very important."

Sonic looked to her sister and Manic, then to Shadow, looking to his eyes. He inhaled deeply. "Alright, if its that serious."

Shadow nodded, pulling Sonic close in his arms before gripping his emerald.

"Chaos Control!"

Robotnik watched the surveillance of Sonic and Shadow leaving the room, frowning. "And what are they up to, I wonder..."

He looked to Sleet and Dingo, who had been standing nearby. "You two! Go find them! See what they're up to!"

Sleet bowed. "Yes sir!" He turned to Dingo, who had been staring at the monitor of Sonia longingly. He grabbed his ear. "Let's GO, you lovesick monkey!"

"Aw, no fair, Sleet!" Dingo whined, being yanked by his ear out.

Down the street, Shadow walked, gripping Sonic's hand rather tightly as he looked rather nervous for once in his life as Sonic looked at him. "Shadow...are...are you sure? You don't have to do this..."

"I want to, Sonic," Shadow said, turning and laying his hands on Sonic's shoulders. "I know its been a few weeks since we met. We still don't know what Robotnik is doing with Chaos. But if I ever been so sure of anything, its this. I want your family to be happy..."

Shadow took Sonic's hand, slowly removing the glove before, to Sonic's surprise, he kissed it. Sonic turned beet red at the gesture as Shadow spoke. "I want you to be happy."

Sonic, flustered for once in his life, tried to find the voice to speak. "S...shadow...I...I never knew you felt this way."

Neither realized that there was a fly on the ball of the building they were standing next to. Literally. But before he could hear anymore of the conversation, a newspaper swatted the mutt, knocking him out cold.

Manic sat in the room, by himself. he heard the commotion of SWATbots outside before all went quietly. Suddenly, Jules poked his head in. "Ah, Manic, there you are!"

"Pops!" Manic ran for Jules, hugging him.

Jules returned the hug before looking at him. "I needed to talk to you, but where's your sister?"

"In the bridal chambers, getting ready," Manic said solemnly. Jules frowned.

Bartleby, pale as a ghost, stood trembling in the throne room as Robotnik oversaw the preparations for the wedding. "Yes...it won't be long now...this plan is perfect...don't you agree, Bartleby?"

Bartleby jumped. "Uh...yes-yes sir!"

Truth was, he wasn't sure who he was more afraid of...Doctor Robotnik-

-or King Jules?

Sonic was leaning against a building, mind turning over things as Shadow looked at him. "I gotta say...when I was assessing my life 6 weeks ago, I would of never...NEVER envisioned this plan. Now that it's come and gone..."

Shadow smiled a bit. "I know what you mean."

Sonic frowned, sighing again. "But...what about my friend...my family? Mom and Dad?"

"I think its something that would be worth the endeavor-" Ali spoke, approaching the two hedgehogs from an alley, looking straight at Sonic. "If you feel you could do such a thing."

Sonic blushed badly, looking up at his mother. "Mom...how long you been standing there?"

She looked at a newspaper she had rolled up in her hands. "Let's just say...long enough to know everything..."

Sonia stood at the entrance of the throne room, looking down the aisle, dressed in bridal clothing. This was it. She walked down the aisle, scowling at Robotnik, who watched with glee as Bartleby awaited Sonia at the front. The chosen priest stood before them both, rather nervous as two SWATbots flanked him. Apparently he was roped into this unwillingly. "Dearly beloved..."

Sonic and Shadow chaos controlled back to the palace, looking around before he could hear the priest from down the hall. "Shadow, the wedding!"

The two ran down the hall, headed for the throne room where the wedding was being held. Upon bursting in the doors, SWATbots turned, pointing guns at them. Sonic shouted. "SIS! Don't go through this, you don't have to!"

Sonia looked at them, her eyes seemed to show they were resigned to her fate. "Sonic...I-"

Suddenly a hand cupped her cheek, and Bartleby stared, gazing into her lovely face. She stared back, knowing he was about to kiss as he leaned in.

But something was off.

His lips were moving, ever so slightly. Enough to form words.

Say no.

Say no.

That's what he was mouthing. He wanted her to back out of the wedding? And so did Sonic and Shadow...

"No."

The others inhaled sharply as Sonia backed off. She looked at Bartleby. "I can't do this."

Robotnik was the one who spoke. "In that case, hedgehog, its the Robotisizer for you...SWATbots-!"

"CHAOS SPEAR!"

Robots suddenly exploded from Shadow's energy attack as Sonic ran forward. "Sorry, Sonia! Shadow and I had to cancel your date with the Robotisizer!"

"That's one date I'm willing to stand up!" Sonia called as Shadow rushed up to the front, grabbing both her and Bartleby. "Sonic, grab on!"

Sonic didn't need to be told twice as he ran forward, latching on to Shadow as he yelled out. "CHAOS CONTROL!"

Shadow and the others appeared outside the palace, everyone letting go as Sonia looked at Shadow, worried. "Manic's still in there!"

"Where is he? I'll-"

All the sudden, there was a sudden tornado that rose out of the palace, tearing through the courtyard.

Shadow stared. "Uh...never mind...I...think your dad found him..."

Moments later, Jules ran through the palace gates, holding Manic as he skid to a stop in front of the group. "We made it!"

The triplets hugged each other as Jules sized Bartleby up, who swallowed rather nervously.

"I saw what you did...you're okay."

"I...uh...thank you...your highness..."

"But we still don't have a martial bond, and we're running out of time..." Sonia pointed out depressingly.

"Sonia...don't worry...we'll figure out something," Sonic said, looking to her.

Shadow nodded, wrapping an arm around Sonic. "He's right. Don't give up hope."

Jules stepped forward. "If there's anything I can do to help..."

Sonic nodded, turning to him. "Yea...yea, I could definite use your help...and Mom's..."

"And mine."

Bartleby looked at them as the others turned. "I want to help."

Sonic grinned a bit. "You? Help us? Whoa, who are you and what'd you do with Bartleby?"

"I'm serious!" Bartleby insisted. "There has to be a way I can help!"

"You can be a spy!" Sonia spoke up, grasping his hand. "Robotnik trusts you...you could spy on him for us!"

"Spy? I...I don't know..."

"I'll see to it you get all the help you need," Jules stepped in, looking at Bartleby. "If you do this, you can be sure to retain your status as nobility when we retake the throne."

"You mean if..."

"No, Bartleby," Sonic said, grasping Shadow's hand. "He means, WHEN."

"I Can't Breathe" is performed by Krypteria from the album "Bloodlust Cry".


	5. The Secret Plans

-1A red bi-plane soared over the coast of Station Square, being flown by a two-tailed fox. Hot on his tail was a ship, shooting lasers at him. He grabbed a radio and called in. "Mayday, mayday, Sonic Underground! This is Tails, flying over the Emerald Coast! I'm being pursued by Sleet and Dingo! I need assistance, fast!"

Suddenly a laser blasted the tail of the plane, sending it on a downward. "AGH! I been hit! Mayday, mayday! I'm going down!"

--

Sonic Underground CHAOS

The Secret Plans

written by Sonic Remix

Sonic the Hedgehog and related characters and indicia © and ™ 1991-2008 SEGA - Sonic Team

--

The wreckage of the plan was still sparking from exposed wires and smoking with burnt parts when Sonic and Shadow ran up to the plane, searching around it.

"Tails, buddy, speak to me!" Sonic yelled out, trying to find him.

Shadow looked along the beach, spying the many footprints. "Sonic-!"

Sonic turned, looking to where Shadow was pointing. "SWATbots got him..."

They looked at each other. "Robotnik!"

Tails squirmed in the grip of the robots as he was brought into the Robotisizer room. he had heard tales of this place from the other freedom fighters, but being here, now, brought a sense of fear upon him. But tales were not enough to overcome his sense of virtue. As far as he was concerned, his loyalties to the freedom fighters were too strong.

He was tossed into a robotisizer tube, where Robotnik approached him. Tails merely folded his arms, glaring at the dictator.

"So it seems the king has resorted to send a mere child as the delivery boy. So tell me, child. Where are the secret plans of King Jules??"

Tails pressed his lips together tightly, folding his arms and glaring. Silence followed.

A metallic fist slammed against the glass, causing the fox to jump in startlement as Robotnik growled. "Speak, NOW! Or be turned into my robot!"

Tails glared. "I'm not telling you anything, Eggman!"

Nearby, Sleet and Dingo snickered silently at the nickname, which earned a horrid glare from the doctor. Sleet quickly stopped, elbowing Dingo to stop. Dingo covered his mouth. "Sorry..."

Robotnik turned back to Tails, glaring. "Last chance, brat. WHERE IS-"

A sudden flash from behind Robotnik distracted him. He whirled around in time to see a blue blur rush at him, knocking him over before Shadow yelled. "CHAOS SPEAR!"

A large bolt struck the glass of the robotisizer, freeing Tails in time for Sonic to grab him.

Robotnik yelled as he tried to get up. "GET THEM! GET THEM!"

SWATbots started shooting at the trio as Sonic rushed back to Shadow with Tails in hand. "SHADOW, get us outta here!"

Shadow nodded, grabbing both Sonic and Tails. "CHAOS CONTROL!"

In a flash, they were gone. Missed laser bolts bounced off the metallic walls and right back at the SWATbots, making them explode.

Shadow, Sonic, and Tails appeared back on the docks at the Emerald Coast, all three panting as they plopped on the docks.

"Everyone alright?" Sonic asked, tiredly. The other mumbled a yes.

"Why does my energy feel so drained?" Tails asked.

"My fault," Shadow muttered, holding up his chaos emerald. "I'm drained from using the emerald for that control and spear...that last control must of sapped on your energies to maintain it..."

"At least we're safe," Tails mumbled.

Sonic opened his eyes and looked around. "I'd feel safer back on dry land instead of this dock, it feels shaky..."

"That's your imagination," Tails mumbled.

Suddenly the dock DID shift. Shadow opened his eyes, looking around. "Maybe not, Tails..."

Suddenly the dock shook violently, causing Sonic to jump to his feet in panic. "The dock's gonna collapse!"

Tails got up. "Why is the dock shaking?!"

"THAT'S WHY!" Shadow yelled, pointing to the end of the dock. A dorsal fin, a HUGE one, was slicing down the middle of the dock, tearing it up like scissors through paper.

"WE GOTTA GET TO THE PLANE!" Tails yelled.

"I can only take one!" Shadow yelled to Sonic as the noise of the dock breaking up got louder.

"Get Tails outta here!" Sonic yelled, turning to run down the dock.

Shadow grabbed Tails and chaos controlled moments before the dorsal fin ripped through the section. Sonic bolted as fast as he could down the dock, to escape the terror that was coming for him. Moments later, the dorsal fin sank beneath the dock and the water before a giant orca whale came bursting out of the water, right on Sonic's heels. The blast sent Sonic flying off the dock, his speed catapulting him right onto the shore where the plane had crashed on. Rolling across the sand to soften the blow of the impact, Sonic flopped onto his back as the orca jumped from the water offshore, splashing down and circling around the island.

A shadow fell over Sonic, as Shadow fell to Sonic's side, helping him to sit up. "Sonic, you alright?"

Sonic nodded shakily, mumbling. "I hate water so much..."

Shadow looked up, watching as the orca finally began to swim away. "What would cause an orca to go on a rampage like that?"

"Maybe that's why they call them killer whales," Sonic growled softly, as Shadow finally helped him to his feet.

Shadow shook his head. "It just doesn't make sense."

"Where's Tails?" Sonic asked, looking around.

"At the plane, looking for something," Shadow said, nodded towards the crash site.

Sonic nodded. "Let's get back to him."

Sonic and Shadow made it back to the plane in time for Tails to pull out a sealed package from the wreckage. "Found it!"

Sonic and Shadow looked at what Tails held in his hand. "What is that?"

"Sealed orders from Jules and Ali. They want me to get it to Anaz as soon as possible..." Tails said, leaning in to whisper. "They're secret plans."

Sonic looked at him. "Secret plans, huh? That why Sleet and Dingo were after you?"

Tails nodded. "Robuttnik wanted the plans."

Sonic nodded. "Well in that case, let's regroup with Sonia and Manic in Robotropolis, then we'll get the plans transported."

"I can't chaos control right now," Shadow said. "I'm completely drained."

Sonic nodded. "We'll just have to get back to Robotropolis the old fashion way..."

Grabbing Shadow and Tails, Sonic ran off, using his speed to hydroplane the water and back to the mainland.

At least the orca lost interest in lunch.

Monitors on, Robotnik watched as Sonic, Shadow and Tails arrived back in the city. He sat up when he saw the sealed documents in Tails's hand. "That's...that's it!"

He turned. "All SWATbots, prepare fore pursuit of the hedgehogs! I WANT THOSE PLANS!"

Sonic, Shadow, and Tails arrived back at the safe house, where Sonia and Manic were set up with their keyboard and drums. Manic looked up with a grin. "Sonic, you're just in time, bro! How about a song?"

"Oh boy, a song!" Tails jumped, grabbing Shadow and bouncing onto the couch.

Shadow fell against the couch with a crash from the over-excited fox pulling him. "Oof!"

Sonic laughed and grinned, touching his medallion as a guitar appeared in his hands. "In that case...1-2-3-4-!"

_Beyond the boundaries of your city's lights.  
Stand the heroes waiting for your cries.  
So many times you did not bring this on yourself.  
When the moment finally comes, I'll be there to help._

_And on that day, when you need your brothers and sisters to care.  
I'll be right here._

_Citizen soldiers.  
Holding the light for the ones that we guide from the dark of despair.  
Standing on guard for the ones that we've sheltered.  
We'll always be ready because we will always be there._

_When there're people crying in the streets.  
When they're starving for a meal to eat.  
When they simply need a place to make their beds.  
Right here underneath my wing, you can rest your head._

_On that day, when you need your brothers and sisters to care.  
I'll be right here._

_Citizen soldiers.  
Holding the light for the ones that we guide from the dark of despair.  
Standing on guard for the ones that we've sheltered.  
We'll always be ready because we will always be there._

_Hope and pray, that you never need me.  
The rest assured I will not let you down.  
I walk beside you, but you may not see me.  
The strongest among you may not wear a crown._

_On the day when you need your brothers and sisters to care.  
I'll be right here.  
On that day when you don't have strength for the burden you bear.  
I'll be right here._

_Citizen soldiers.  
Holding the light for the ones that we guide from the dark of despair.  
Standing on guard for the ones that we've sheltered.  
We'll always be ready because we will always be there._

"YAY!!" Tails clapped as all three made their instruments turn into medallions again.

"So what's up?" Manic asked, looking to the trio that came in.

Tails waved the plans in his hands. "Secret mission!"

"Secret mission? Where to?" Sonia asked.

"Someplace called Anaz." Tails said.

Manic grinned. "Perfect! We been there before! We'll get this mission done in no time!"

The van screeched to a halt in the middle of the prosperous city of Anaz. This was one of the few cities in the world that still held its original beauty after Robotnik took over, because of the city's vast treasury funds allow them to pay the dictator to stay untouched. As it was, its become a pricy vacation spot for the aristocracy of Mobius.

The back of the van opened, and Sonic ran out with Tails, Shadow, Sonia and Manic following. "Okay, lil bro. Where we go from here?"

"We need to find a place called the RUSH Library," Tails said, looking around.

"RUSH? Sounds like my kind of place," Sonic grinned. "Okay, let's hurry before-"

Suddenly large spotlights shone on the group, as SWATbot hovercrafts flew over from above. More SWATbots surrounded the group as Sleet's voice could be heard on a megaphone. "We got you surrounded, hedgehogs! Surrender the plans, or else!"

Robotnik grinned as he approached the surrounded group, their hands in the air and glaring at the fat dictator. "So in the end, I win, you lose, hedgehogs..."

SWATbot drew guns, pointed at the group while Robotnik held out his hand to Tails, who clung to the documents tightly. "Hand them over, boy, or your friends get it!"

Tails bit his lower lip, hesitating before Sonic looked at him. "Tails, just give it to him. Its not worth our lives over."

Tails looked at him, wide-eyed. "What?"

"He's gonna get the plans either way, bud. We can't throw our lives away. Trust me."

Tails reluctantly nodded, slowly holding out the documents.

Robotnik snagged them, laughing. "YES! At last, the secret plans of the King and Queen!"

He tore into the envelope, pulling out the papers to look over. His smile quickly disappeared after a moment. "What...what is this?! This isn't secret plans! Its some garbage law! GAH!"

He tossed the papers to one side, glaring at them as Sonic zipped out, quick as lightning to catch the papers. "You conniving little RODENTS! You wasted my time! SWATBOTS!"

Sonic stuffed the papers back in the envelope, tossing it to Tails before suddenly zipping behind Robotnik. The fat man yelled. "PREPARE TO--GAAAAAAH!"

Super Sonic Atomic Wedgie. Ouch.

Shadow gripped his emerald, hold his other hand out at the SWATbots. "CHAOS SPEAR!"

Several robots shattered, clearing a path while Sonic yelled to Tails. "TAILS! Get those documents to RUSH! We'll take care of the robots!"

Not needing to be told twice, Tails made a mad dash for the opening, running from the scene and running down the street.

Sonia and Manic touched their medallions, instruments forming before them. Sonia shot lasers at the other SWATbots from her keyboard, while Manic beat on the drums, forming a giant earthquake and knocking Robotnik, Sleet and Dingo off their feet.

Sonic grabbed Shadow's hand. "RUN FOR IT, SIBS!"

The lot took off from the scene while there was so much confusion going on. By the time Robotnik figured out what happened, everyone was long gone, SWATbots destroyed.

Sonic and the others arrived at a building 10 minutes later, one that said "RUSH Library", just as Tails was coming outside. "Got it in!"

Sonic grinned. "Way to go, lil bro!"

"We'd better get back to the van and get out of here before the Doctor finds us here," Shadow pointed out. The others nodded in agreement and started to make their way back to where they parked the van.

"One thing that bothers me," Sonia mused. "What was it that Robotnik read that makes it important to the resistance, but not to him?"

"They're sealed orders...or were supposed to be. I guess we'll find out in time, " Sonic pointed out.

As they walked, Sonic's watch beeped, causing Sonic and Shadow to stop. He looked to the others. "You guys go on, we'll catch up with you inna sec."

Shrugging, Sonia, Manic, and Tails left, leaving Sonic to answer the wrist comm. "Sonic here."

"So how did the mission go?" came Jules's voice, in switch Shadow leaned in.

"Perfectly. Just as planned," Shadow replied.

"Good. Stage 1 is complete," the king spoke.

Sonic gripped Shadow's hand with his free hand as he looked at the comm. "Time for Stage 2..."

"Citizen Soldiers" is performed by 3 Doors Down.


	6. Birthright

-1"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SONIC UNDERGROUND!"

The shouts of their friends took Sonic, Sonia, and Manic by surprise as they, along with Shadow and Tails, walked into the local base. Sonic grinned a bit. "Hey, you guys remembered."

Cyrus, a lion who was one of the resistance leaders, came out, wheeling a cake. "How could we forget? Its not everyday that your best friends turn 18."

Manic laughed, swiping a knife, ready to dig in. "Ya got that right, Cy!"

Sonic suddenly gripped Manic's knife-wielding hand, looking at Cy. "Can ya save the cake for later? Unfortunately we have a serious important mission to take on, and we need every minute of it to count.

Sonia blinked, looking at her brother. "Whoa, you, needing every minute of today? Must be serious if you can't rush it!"

Shadow looked at Sonia. "Trust me, its THAT serious."

"So what kind of mission are you guys headed on?" Cyrus asked.

Sonic winked at Cyrus. "Its super top secret. Only Mom and Dad know, other than me and Shadow." Sonic pulled out a box. "This is the King's Box. Unbreakable, and only the king himself can open it. Dad wants me to bring it with us on our mission."

Sonia looked at Sonic, alarmed. "What? Why didn't you tell me and Manic?"

Tails piped up. "That's cause the king told me that he wants you and Manic on an important mission of your own!"

Sonia and Manic looked at Tails now, who handed them a package. "The King wants you guys to take this out to an old ruin by the ocean near Robotropolis. He said to look for someone named Captain Azure."

Sonia slowly took the package. "Captain Azure...got it..."

Sonic stared at his siblings for the longest time, before he suddenly hugged them, both. "Good luck...sibs..."

Manic suddenly had this nagging feeling as he hugged Sonic back. "You okay, bro?"

Sonic sighed, nodded, looking to Shadow for a moment before looking back to his siblings. "I just...its..." He sighed. "You'll find out in time. I'm really sorry I can't really tell you anything about our mission."

Sonia hugged him. "If its that important...we support you, 100 percent."

Sonic smiled slightly and nodded. "You don't know how much that means to me, sis."

Manic put a hand on Sonic's shoulder. "A pretty big mission, sometimes needs to be kept secret. We trust you, bro. Do what you need to do."

"And you guys do the same," Sonic smiled, stepping back to stand by Shadow's side before he looked to Cyrus, grinning. "We'll be ready for that cake when we get back!"

--

Sonic Underground CHAOS

Birthright

written by Sonic Remix

Sonic the Hedgehog and related characters and indicia © and ™ 1991-2008 SEGA - Sonic Team

--

The ocean crashed against the rocky cliff as Sonia and Manic made their way down the coast. With Tails back at the base helping Cyrus on some new equipment, and Sonic and Shadow on their own mission, Sonia and Manic were on their own this time around. Which meant they had to be careful for sure.

"So please explain to me why we're spending yet another birthday on a mission?" Sonia mumbled.

"Maybe its that important. Don't forget that the deadline for claiming the throne ends at midnight," Manic pointed out. "Sonic said he had the King's Box and is meeting up with dad with it. Maybe it has some secret plan to change all that."

"That's one theory," Sonia mused, before looking at the package she held. "But I wonder how our mission fits into this. I mean, who is this Captain Azure that Father wants us to find?"

"Oh yea, that's right!" Manic jumped, snapping his fingers. "I heard stories of Captain Azure. They say he's an old sea pirate captain that was granted immortality from a demigoddess, or so the legend goes."

"Hmph," Sonia snorted, wandering past an orange colored boulder. "I kinda find THAT story hard to believe."

"Well, lemme ask you this," Manic started, following right behind her. "Ever get the feeling you're being watched?"

Sonia stopped, leaning against the boulder. "Now that you mention it, it does..."

All the sudden, there was a flash of light, and the boulder that Sonia was leaning against suddenly shifted into the form of Dingo, who grabbed Sonia into his arms. "Happy birthday Sonia! You're in my arms again!"

Sonia screeched. "ARGH! DINGO, LEMME GO!" She tried kicking him with her foot as Sleet appeared from behind another boulder, laughing. "That was only too easy."

Manic glared, looking behind him as he backed up to the cliff edge. Sleet continued. "Now what would two little hedgehogs be doing so far from home, I wonder. And where is your brother?"

"Wouldn't you like to know..." Sonia grumbled.

"Let her go, dog-face!" Manic growled from nearby.

"Ah, the street-rat!" Sleet smirked, looking at the green hedgehog. "And what can you possibly do? You can't use your drums here. An earthquake will send ALL of us dropping off the cliff and into the ocean."

Manic smirked, holding his arms out. "Who says a need an earthquake?"

To which Sleet burst out laughing. "Your father isn't here to help you this time! You cannot possibly pull off his level of powers on your own!"

"Want to bet?" Manic asked, closing his eyes, his arms out.

He began to glow a green aura as Sleet yawned, unamused.

However, that wall of water splashing up and around Manic was NOT what he expected to come crashing at him. The water split around Manic, keeping him dry as both Sleet and Dingo were knocked off their feet by the powerful wave. Sonia was knocked out of Dingo's hands and onto a boulder, watching as the water carried Sleet and Dingo away from them before it receded back into the ocean below. Manic opened one eye. "Hey...I did it! And I don't feel tired!"

Sonia rushed over, grabbing Manic's hand. "That's great, Manic, but we gotta go!"

"Hey!" Manic yelped as Sonia pulled him along quickly. They made their way to a cave to escape.

Sleet and Dingo sputtered as they stood up, growling a bit. "That brat's gotten more powerful than I realized. How'd he do that?!"

"Let's go back to Robotropolis before we make him mad again!" Dingo whined, not exactly ready to face that kind of power again.

Sleet slapped him across the face. "NO! Something is fishy here, and I am determined to find out what it is they're up to!"

"Well we are near the ocean. Maybe that's what's fishy."

This time Sleet slapped himself in frustration.

Walking through the cave passage, Sonia led the way, the two hedgehogs making their medallions glow to light the tunnel. Manic was bubbling with excitement. "I couldn't believe how much better I'm getting at this. Won't Pa be surprised when I tell him?"

"That was pretty amazing, Manic," Sonia said, doubtful. "But last time, you fainted on something that powerful, and that was WITH Father's help. Doesn't that say anything?"

"That practice makes perfect?"

Sonia groaned. "You are just like Sonic sometimes, I swear."

They came to the end of the tunnel into a lit room. It looked like the ruins of some kind of temple, washed away by water and time. Sonia looked around, amazed. "Wow...this place must be centuries old!"

She wandered up to a wall that had a mural of two hedgehogs with wings, hovering high above an ocean." I wonder what this is.."

Suddenly a hand grabbed both her and Manic, turning them around to face an old blue-grey hedgehog, who glared at them. "WHAT'RE YOU DOING HERE?!"

Sonia eeped. "Are...are you Captain Azure?"

The hedgehog snorted, letting go. "Hmph...who wants to know?"

"My...my name is Sonia...and this is my brother Manic...we been sent by our father, the king, to deliver a package to Captain Azure..."

The old man eyed the two for a moment, suspiciously, before speaking again. "So your Jules's kids?"

They both nodded weakly. This guy was creepy, intimidating. Sonia could see how he could of been an old pirate captain. All he was missing was the eye patch and peg leg.

He smirked slightly, before grabbing them in a sudden hug that seriously made both hedgehogs uncomfortable. "That practically makes us family!"

He let go, looking at Sonia. "Come come, now, my dear. Let's see that package!"

Sonia nodded now, sighing a bit in relief as she handed the captain the package. He opened it, revealing a data pad as he looked it over. He smirked a bit, looking at the two. "It seems your ol dad wants ya to be taught a lesson or two with me...I hear ol Chaos is on the loose."

Sonia blinked. "The water god? You heard about him?"

"T'AN'T NO GOD!" Azure barked, startling both Sonia and Manic. He regained his posture, clearing his throat. "Chaos is one of the four Titans that's become corrupted." He turned his back. "Follow me...its time you knew...of the Gods."

Azure led Sonia and Manic through the temple, showing off the different pictures painted in the murals. He stopped first at the picture of the two hedgehogs with wings. "The two most revered gods in history...Hope and Promise."

Sonia beamed. "I heard of Hope and Promise in school! They were the first gods to come to Mobius eons ago. Promise, the male black hedgehog, brought the flora, while Hope, the female white hedgehog, gave birth to the first Mobians and brought the fauna."

Azure winked. "Ya got it mostly right, Sonia, except for one thing."

"What's that?" Sonia asked, curious.

"Hope was male as well."

Manic stared. "Whoa, wait, what? Back up there...say that again?"

Sonia stared as Azure laughed. "Both Hope and Promise were male designated gods...but that's a lesson you'll have to learn another day. We're not here to debate the gender of the gods and their abilities."

Rather creeped out, the two agreed to move on as Azure continued his lesson.

"Dominating the world itself, Hope and Promise gave birth to four Titans...elementals, to create the environments and seasons. Chaos, Solaris, Terra, and Aeros."

"Water, Fire, Earth and Air," Sonia concluded.

"Right. And finally Hope and Promise gave birth to the Demigods, those who would teach the Mobians, and shape the world..."

He gestured to the mural, where the picture of 12 demigods stood in a circle. Sonia eyed the image of a female green hedgehog, who had a bearing resemblance to herself. "Hey, I know this one! I saw a statue of her once when I was in the Great North. That's Queen Sauna. The penguins who lived there looked up to her, waiting for her to come back."

Azure smirked. "I'm not surprised. Sauna taught many creatures, especially here in the tropical region. Her powers over water and heat is what made the jungles so steamy. She may of taught the penguins in the Great North before she came down south."

"She looks a lot like me."

Azure chuckled. "You'd be surprised at what you can learn about Sauna..."

Manic was quietly looking back over the different pictures of the murals, studying that of Hope and Promise in particular. "Its weird...

Sonia looked over to her brother. "What's that?"

Manic gestured to the pictures. "You look like Sauna...but look here...Hope here looks a lot like Sonic..."

"Yea...and Promise looks like Shadow," Sonia added.

Azure chuckled. "I'm not surprised. A legend once said that Queen Aleena's family were descendants of Hope. Even Jules's family are descendants of Sauna. That's why you and your brother have the looks, and Manic...you have the powers..."

Manic blinked. "You mean...those...abilities to control-"

"Well its a combination of things because of the mix in the bloodline, but yea."

Manic blinked, looking out. "Wow..."

"But...what about Shadow..." Sonia murmured.

Azure sighed. "That...I don't have all the answers to.."

He looked to Manic. "Your father sent you here so I could have you understand more about your power."

He gestured for the two to follow him to the entrance. "Follow me."

Azure stood on the cliff edge, looking over the ocean. "Look at that...the Great Ocean...this is a sacred world to the gods. Many Mobians in the old days would sail her waters to honor the two."

Sonia frowned as she looked out. "Sonic would severely disagree. He hates water to no end."

Azure looked at her, surprised. "Now that's very odd. The ocean is a wide place for adventure. He shouldn't fear it..."

"I know...something happened to him, I know it...but he won't admit or talk about it..." she sighed.

The three grew quiet for a few minutes before Manic spoke. "Hey guys, cheer up! If we're at the ocean, I'd say we should honor the gods as Captain Azure suggests, in our own way!"

Sonia looked at him, smiling a bit. "Got anything in mind, brother?"

Manic grinned, touching his medallion. Azure jumped when a set of drums appeared out of nowhere. "As a matter of fact, I do."

_Life starts with the sunny day.  
Let's feel the ocean breath!  
We are cruisin' open seas.  
Can't wait for a New Venture!_

_La la, la la, la la,  
A New Venture,  
La la, la la, la la,  
A New Venture,  
La laaaa  
A New Venture,  
La laaaa  
A New Venture  
La laaaa!_

_Ohhhhhh yeaah!_

_Nothin's going to stop us now,  
We'll conquer the Seven Seas!  
No-one's gettin' left behind!  
Get ready for a New Venture!_

_La la, la la, la la,  
A New Venture,  
La la, la la, la la,  
A New Venture,  
La laaaa  
A New Venture,  
La laaaa  
A New Venture  
La laaaa!_

_Ohhhhhh yeaah!_

_Life starts, life starts, life starts, with the sunny day.  
Let's feel, let's feel, let's feel, the ocean breath!  
Life starts, life starts, life starts, with the sunny day.  
Let's feel, let's feel, let's feel the ocean breath!  
Life starts, life starts, life starts, with the sunny day.  
Let's feel, let's feel, let's feel the ocean breath!_

_Life starts with the sunny day.  
Let's feel the ocean breath, ocean breath, ocean breath!  
Can't wait for a New Venture!_

_La la, la la, la la,  
A New Venture,  
La la, la la, la la,  
A New Venture,  
La laaaa  
A New Venture,  
La laaaa  
A New Venture,  
La laaaa!_

_Ohhhhhh yeaah!_

"Hold it right there, hedgehogs!"

Sonia groaned. No sooner had they finished the song, than had Sleet and Dingo showed up, guns raised.

"Haven't you dog-breaths learned your lesson the first time?" Manic groaned, rolling his eyes.

"I also suggest you don't try any of that funny stuff, if you don't want your sister's head blown off!" Sleet smirked, pointing the gun at her.

Manic gasped as Azure growled. "What do ya want with us?!"

"What I want to know is where Sauna is! We know she's here. The brat's powers are just not that strong. So WHERE IS SHE?!"

Manic blinked. He didn't cause that wave of water earlier? Azure growled. "I don't know what yer talkin about, ya bottom-dwelling scumsucker! Its just me and the kids!"

He laughed, looking at Sonia. "What a fitting way to end your birthday then, Sonia...with a BANG!"

A bang was right, but it wasn't from Sleet. Another large wave of water came crashing right at the two, this time without Manic doing anything. Clearing the way, the waters receded, and Azure took that opportunity to grab Sonia and Manic's hands, making a break for it. "Come on kids! We have to warn Sauna before its too late!"

Azure and the others ran back down the tunnel to the ruins, stopping short of entering the temple. SWATbots were all over the place. Azure silently cursed to himself.

"We've got to get those heaps of scrap metal outta here!" He looked back at Manic and Sonia, leaning in. "I've got an idea..."

SWATbots continued to search through the ruins, scanners on full alert, before a laser suddenly shot at one. They turned to find Sonia standing here, her keyboard laser trained on them while Azure pulling out a sword strapped to his side.

"Hedgehog alert! Hedgehog alert!" The SWATbots droned as they turned on them.

"Come and get some, SWATbots!" Sonia shouted, dodging a laser blast as she shot back. Azure ran forward, wielding his sword and striking at another SWATbot.

All of this served as distraction while Manic ran behind the SWATbots, taking a deep breath. "Man...I don't know if I can do this..."

Suddenly he heard a voice...inside his head. A woman's voice. 'You can do this...you have the power. Just concentrate.'

Manic looked around, wondering where the voice came from, but didn't have time to argue as he hesitantly did as he was told, closing his eyes and holding his arms out, just like his dad had shown him.

As this fight was going on, a washed out looking Sleet and Dingo trudged back into the ruins, water dripping from their fur as they looked up to witness the fighting. And eyes looked upon a concentrating Manic. Sleet laughed weakly. "You...you don't have your father here to help you...hedgehog! If you think you can...summon..."

Sleet's words drifted off after a moment, realizing that a strong gust of wind had kicked up INSIDE the ruins. And near the ceiling, miniature storm clouds were brewing.

Azure looked up and grabbed Sonia's hand, pulling her back into the tunnels and past Sleet and Dingo as dangerous bolts of lightning began to strike down the SWATbots, one by one.

Sleet and Dingo yelped and began to make a break for it.

But not before one bolt struck Sleet in the tail. "YOOOW!"

Once the SWATbots were destroyed, the storm subsided, and Manic fell to his knees, weak, and eventually over, unconscious. Sonia and Azure ran back into the temple, with Sonia falling by her brother's side and scooping him into her arms. "You did good, Manic...you did good..."

Once Manic came to, Azure decided it was time that the two headed back home, having learned enough for the time being. Both Manic and Sonia shook hands with him.

"Thanks Captain. I never would have thought I'd be capable of using my powers myself for real," Manic nodded, to which Azure smiled.

"Well, your father sent you here for more than that. He wanted you both to believe that anything, no matter how impossible it seems, can happen. It just takes belief and faith."

He looked to the mural. "As long as there's the promise of hope...anything is possible for those who believe."

Sonia wrapped an arm around Manic. "We believe. We really believe."

"Good, then I know you're ready. Go on home. Your brother's waiting for you." Azure bowed to them, before stepping back into the shadows of the ruins.

Sonia and Manic headed back to the city, back home, where they found that Sonic, Shadow, and Jules were already at home, sitting at a table. Sonic grinned and stood up, running to his siblings and hugging them. "Hey guys! How did your mission go?"

"It was great!" Manic shattered excitedly. "We got to meet this old pirate captain, and got to see these old ruins and learned about the gods...and...and...and I got to use my powers on my own!"

Jules grinned, patting Manic on the back. "That's my boy! Taking after your old man, eh?"

"Hey, when you got the juice-" Sonic piped up, smirking.

Sonia looked at her older brother. "How did your mission go?"

Shadow, who had been quiet up until now, simply spoke. "Robotnik got the King's Box."

Sonia frowned. "That's not good."

Jules merely shrugged. "Its safe. He can't get into it. No one but I can."

"But the deadline-" Sonia started to bring up, but then stopped closing her eyes, calming herself. "The promise of hope, the promise of hope..."

Jules smirked and patted her shoulder. "You ARE learning, sweetheart..."

He finally looked up to them. "Look, I have some other things to take care of. You kids take care and I'll be back around later."

Midnight. The trio looked up at the clock over the TV and sighed. Manic looked at Sonic. "I bet Robotnik's having quiet the party right now."

"And boasting about it on TV," Sonia snorted, turning on the set. Indeed, the round man's ugly mug was on the screen.

"-and so ends the era of the Hedgehog Dynasty. I have the King's Box, I have the throne, I have won-"

Suddenly the TV white-screened for a moment before the image turned over to a new figure. Everyone stared as Jules stood there on screen. "Citizens of Robotropolis-"

Outside and all over the city, all outdoor TV screens were focused on the blue hedgehog as he spoke. "I am King Jules. For many years, you had followed my dear Queen Aleena until this round buffoon that was once my ADVISOR took over, and you blindly followed him out of fear, hiding behind your money while those who believed continued to fight. By doing so, you have forsaken all our beliefs that made Mobotropolis what it once was!

"'Believe in the promise of hope.' That was our saying. That was our belief! If you can't believe in the royal family, then you are no citizen of Mobotropolis! Despite what this...DESPOT...is saying, he has NOT won yet, no matter WHAT he tells you. So I'm laying down the choice. Stand up and fight for your right as a citizen of Mobotropolis, or continue to cower in the shadow of this madman. The choice is yours, but I warn you...I WARN you...by Coronation Day, the choice you make had better be right...because I can PROMISE you...that it will be MY family...who will be back in control of Mobotropolis."

The screens blacked out, as Captain Azure stood in front of a building, watching the broadcast. He chuckled a bit as he turned to head back to the ruin. "My son, you were always the pursuer of justice..."

A woman, a green furred hedgehog, walked by his side. "They all do...but it will be this generation that will prove the most eventful one in all history."

"Aye Sauna...the mixing of bloodlines has altered the course of history for everyone here on the planet...they changes are fast, radical, chaotic..."

"As well as it should be...it was the energy of chaos that shaped this world. And it is that chaos that will calm and heal the hearts of the Titans."

Azure looked at the demigoddess. "You mean its more than Chaos who-"

She laid a finger on his lips. "That is another story for another time. Right now, let's face the one we have on hand."

Azure could only agree silently as they disappeared over the hill, headed back for the temple.

_Can't wait for a New Venture!_

_La la, la la, la la,  
A New Venture,  
La la, la la, la la,  
A New Venture,  
La laaaa  
A New Venture,  
La laaaa  
A New Venture,  
La laaaa!_

"A New Venture Surfin S.R.A. Remix" is performed by Tahirih Walker from the album True Blue.


	7. Fiona

-1Up on the hill in the Mystic Forest, Sonic, Shadow, and Tails faced off Dr Robotnik. The human sat in a large machine that had drill points on it and was loaded with missiles.

Sonic and the others had headed up to Tails's workshop so that Tails could work on some of his larger machines he couldn't take back to Robotropolis. He had refused to let Shadow chaos control them back to base in fear that the chaos energy would much up the machinery.

But no sooner had they got to the workshop, did Robotnik show up in his machine, calling Sonic out there and then.

Naturally, Shadow was not about to leave Sonic to face the Eggman alone, and Tails wanted to help, so the trio faced him off while Sonia and Manic stood on the sidelines.

"Actually, I'm rather glad you're here, Shadow. I want that chaos emerald of yours! Hand it over, or else!"

"Or else what, ya big loser??" Sonic demanded on Shadow's behalf.

The machine started to lift higher. "Or else I'll take it from you...the HARD WAY!"

And that's when missiles set out, ready to fire at the trio.

"RUN FOR IT!"

Sonic grabbed Tails and dashed out of the way, while Shadow chaos controlled out of sight. Missiles launch a second too late and impacted the dirt where they once were. The force of the explosion kicked up dust. When it settled, Robotnik grinned, spying Sonia and Manic on the sidelines. "Stay right there..."

Manic gasped, grabbing Sonia and toting her out of the way as the machine Robotnik was in dove right into the place where they stood. It wedged in the dirt. "GAH!"

Suddenly Shadow dropped kick from out in the sky, right down on the machine's cockpit. Alarms sounded in the cockpit as the armor took on damage. Robotnik growled. "You little pests will PAY for that-ARGH!"

A ball of blue slammed into the machine just as it wedged itself free. "Check's in the mail, ya giant talking egg!"

Robotnik roared as he glared down at Sonic, who merely grinned mockingly. "You think you can beat me, hedgehog, but I have won LONG ago. You're nothing more than the roaches I intend to stamp out for good, along with the rest of your inferior resistance!"

Sonic smirked. "And you are an Eggman who's doom was sealed long ago. You just don't know it yet. Anything from this point on is you living on borrowed time."

Shadow smirked, standing by Sonic. "No matter what you do, no matter what you say, in the end, it is US who say how much longer you rule!"

"You think you can control ME?!" Robotnik roared.

"Just a little something to think about. You should know it. You been able to control others for years. By the way, I think my brother has a little something for you."

Robotnik's eyes widened as Sonic stepped aside, Manic standing before the machine now with arms out by his side. A slight green aura emanated from the green hedgehog. Suddenly, a great bolt of lightning stuck the machine with such an explosion, bringing it down.

"I HATE HEDGEHOGS!!"

--

Sonic Underground CHAOS

Fiona

written by Sonic Remix

Sonic the Hedgehog and related characters and indicia © and ™ 1991-2008 SEGA - Sonic Team

--

Robotnik stumbled to get out of his ship, as Sonia held up a weakened Manic. Robotnik fell out of the cockpit, at the feet of the two hedgehogs Sonic and Shadow, with Tails flying overhead.

"Take a good look, Robuttnik. You're staring at your downfall. Now BEAT IT!" Sonic smirked.

Robotnik growled, getting to his feet and stepping backward. "This...THIS ISN'T OVER!"

He pressed a button, and a hovercraft descended from the sky to pick Robotnik up.

"Borrowed time, Robotnik!" Sonic jeered as Robotnik fell into his ship face forward. Legs kicked out uselessly, Eggman trying to right himself as the ship's comm. spoke out.

"Sleet to Robotnik, we have an alert! The criminal Fiona just blew another one of our factories!"

"SHUT UP SLEET AND DEAL WITH IT!" Robotnik yelled, righting himself as the Egg Mobile took off.

Manic blinked, looking to Sonic. "Fiona?? I know her! We used to hang when we were kids! Aw man, I gotta find her!"

"But what about the workshop? I gotta finish working on the machines here!" Tails whined.

Manic bit his lower lip, looking at the others.

Finally Sonic nodded. "Go find your friend, bro. We'll catch up later. If you need any help, call us. Shadow can chaos control up there in a sonic second!"

Manic hugged Sonic. "Thanks man."

One thing's for sure; if Fiona DID blow up the SWATbot factory, she did a very thorough job of taking it out. Almost nothing was left of the building as Manic poked about the smoldering ruins. "Wow..."

He heard the shuffling of feet in the distance. He turned, only to face a gun wielding red fox in a tight black halter top and pants. Manic's face lit up. "FIONA!"

She looked at Manic strangely, blinking. Manic grinned. "Fiona, its me, Manic!"

She lowered her gun. "...Manic...?"

He nodded vigorously. "Remember? We used to hang out as kids!"

"Oh...oh yea!" She finally put down her gun. "You...look so different grown up!"

Manic grinned. "Well, things changed. You...you look just as...as well..." he flushed before he suddenly looked alarmed. "I mean, not bad! You look great! Yea, that's it!"

She laughed a bit. "Smooth way to compliment a girl, cool guy."

Now Manic really flushed in embarrassment. "I haven't been around too many girls after you left. Only my sister, but she doesn't count."

Fiona smirked. "I see. So what brings you out to see my handiwork?"

Manic smiled now. "Oh yea! I was with Sonic, who was fighting Robotnik, when he heard Sleet on the radio mentioning you burning down the building. I had to come find you!"

Fiona's face lit up. "Sonic? You know Sonic?"

"Heck yea! He's my brother!"

NOW Fiona looked REALLY interested. "Sonic...the HEDGEHOG...is YOUR brother?"

"Twin brother!" Manic said matter-of-factly.

Fiona smiled, putting an arm around him. "Tell me more..."

Manic chattered on wildly about his adventures with Sonic and Sonia. At first, Fiona was interested, but the more Manic rattled on, the more bored she was becoming. By the time Manic took her to the safe house, she was only half listening, her mind on other things. She finally had enough and disrupted him.

"Does...does Sonic have a girlfriend?"

Manic blinked, staring at her. "Uh...no."

She smiled a bit, nodding. "Ah, I see..."

"...I think he has a beau."

Her head snapped back around to look at Manic so fast, her neck popped. "What??"

Manic looked to the sky. "Well, its my opinion, but I think Sonic and Shadow hang out WAAAY too much together to be just friends. Especially the way they look at each other. And Shadow always has his arm around Sonic..."

"So...so you're saying that...Sonic and Shadow-"

"Yea. I think so," Manic said quickly.

Fiona's face screwed to that of disgust, to which Manic stopped and stared at her. "No comments, okay? Shadow's cool, and he cares a lot for my bro. I'd trust him over anyone else."

Fiona bit her lower lip to keep from commenting before staring at Manic's medallion, changing the subject. "What a pretty necklace you have."

Manic grinned, showing it off. "Isn't it cool? Watch this!"

He touched it, and Fiona jumped when a set of drums appeared before her in a flash of green light. "Whoa!"

Manic grinned, setting down in front of them. "Royal medallions. Apparently they have special powers."

Fiona put a hand to her chin in thought. "I wonder what powers them..."

That night, Manic had a dream, of an old memory dating back to when he was only 10 years old. He had been hanging out in a junkyard with his friends Fiona, a teenager girl named Rouge, and another hedgehog, orange in color, about Rouge's age, who only called himself Riff-Raff. They had come back from investigating an old woman's house in the city, having decided to only take a giant diamond to hawk off.

Of course, Riff Raff, being the oldest boy, had been one to use explosives to blow off the front gate to get in. Fiona had not been too happy.

"Riff-Raff, someone could of gotten hurt! You didn't have to blow up the gate. We could of climbed around the back!"

Riff-Raff snorted. "Woulda taken too much time. We only took the diamond, right? Besides, she's an aristocrat, she can have that gate repaired without a second glance."

"It still wasn't nice!" Fiona protested. "I hate destruction."

Suddenly an alarm jolted Manic from his sleep. He had invited Fiona to stay the night, and so was worried about someone breaking in and possibly hurting her. Maybe even the SWATbots.

Manic ran out of his room and towards the front door, only to find that Fiona was the one trying to shut it off. "Fiona?"

Fiona whirled around. "Manic! I...was just going out for a walk. I didn't realize you had the house alarm on."

Manic rubbed the sleep from his eyes as he came over to turn the alarm off. "That's okay. Next time, just wake me.." He turned around and stopped short.

Fiona had Manic's medallion in her hand.

"Fi...what're you doing with my medallion?"

"Oh...I was just curious about it. I wanted to study it for a bit while I was walking. I knew you were sleeping, so I'd didn't think you'd miss it..."

Manic looked at her, studying her for a moment before smiling and shrugging. "Eh, that's okay, I understand. Hey, this kinda reminds me of the time we went to that old lady's house and you blew off her front door to get inside."

Fiona laughed. "Hah, yea, those were good times!"

Manic grinned, chuckling as he walked passed her to the door. "Oh yea, they were, weren't they?"

He suddenly blocked the way and glared at her. "It was the front gate that was blown off, and it wasn't you who blew it. So that leaves me to wonder who YOU are, because you're NOT Fiona."

Fiona stared at him for a moment before suddenly kicking Manic in the stomach and running past him, escaping down the street. Manic doubled over in pain, unable to pursue her.

"So I had this weird dream and I remembered that Fiona hated violence! I thought maybe she changed, but when I saw she was taking my medallion, I had my doubts. She took off running with my medallion, bro!" Manic radioed to Sonic.

"I hear ya loud and clear. Shadow and I will be up there. Sonia's gonna stay with Tails so he can finish his work down here. Meet us up near the citadel. Try to find her. I don't know what she could possibly do with your medallion, but whatever it is, it can't be good!"

Sonic and Shadow appeared near the main citadel of the city in a flash, looking around. They knew that Manic was on their way to meet them. They hoped to snoop about and find Fiona in the process.

Sonic folded his arms. "Something way weird is going on around here, Shadou..."

"I'm inclined to agree. Something doesn't feel right."

"Like the air feels even more dead before?"

"Exactly."

"Well let's-"

Suddenly, Sonic was attacked by a sudden...CANNON of water exploding behind him. Sonic fell over, flat on his fact, with Shadow yelling out. "SONIKKU!"

Shadow ran over to Sonic, to help him up. Sonic sputtered, coughing. "What...what was that-HEY?!"

A net suddenly shot at them, wrapping them around tightly to the ground. They heard laughing. Both of them struggled to look around before their eyes laid on two figures.

One looked like Chaos, the creature that attacked them in Station Square. But he had some kind of bone in his left arm this time.

The other figure was a red fox.

Fiona.

Fiona smirked, looking at the two netted hedgehogs. "So Manic wasn't kidding...you two really are fags."

Sonic growled. "Shut it, bitch! Its more than what I can say for you!"

Fiona laughed. "My love life can surprise you, Sonic. But enough about me. I want that chaos emerald Shadow's toting around, and I want it now!"

"LIKE HELL! CHAOS SPEAR!" Shadow shouted.

Nothing happened. Shadow blinked. "Wha?"

Fiona laughed, holding up a device. "All the chaos energy in this area's been neutralized. Your powers are useless here!"

"That's why the air feels dead," Shadow murmured.

Sonic nodded towards Chaos. "What's the story on him?"

Fiona smirked, looking back to Chaos. "Chaos got a little upgrade, thanks to your brother..."

Sonic's eyes widened. "What?"

He stared at Chaos closely, wondering what she meant.

He saw Manic's medallion floating within him. "How?!"

"Its fairly simple. You see-"

WHACK.

Fiona fell over, out cold as Manic stood behind her with a stick. he dropped it. "Well, gotta hand it to Ma, her method works well."

Manic jumped, dodging a cannon water shot from Chaos as Manic ran for the net, getting Sonic and Shadow free. "Let's make a break for it!"

Down in the junkyard, Sonic, Manic, and Shadow panted as they finally escaped Chaos. Manic leaned against a pile. "I don't get it. What's wrong with Fiona? Why is she working with Robotnik?? It doesn't make sense..."

"That's because that Fiona's not from this world..." a new voice spoke, a figure approaching them.

Manic looked up, eyes widen as he stared at a white bat. "Rouge...?"

"The one and only, honey," Rouge smirked, embracing Manic. "Don't worry, I'm not here to steal anything from you."

Manic smiled weakly. "I don't know. The Rouge I know was always stealing gems.."

Rouge held up a diamond, one which Manic recognized. She kissed it. "Don't I always?"

"Yup, its Rouge."

Sonic looked at the bat. "What'd you mean, she's not from this world?"

Rouge looked at them. "Well, I was doing some snooping about Robotnik's citadel, when I saw Fiona being brought to the throne room by SWATbots. I wasn't sure what to do when I saw she was actually introducing herself as Fiona from the Dark Dimension. Apparently she had come looking for robotisizer technology. She apparently struck a deal that if she could lure Sonic to the Robotisizer, he would give her what she needed."

Sonic rolled her eyes. "Like that would ever happen. Even if I wasn't with Shadow, Robotnik would never hold up his end of the deal."

"So why steal Manic's medallion? And why does Chaos have it?" Shadow asked.

Rouge sighed. "Even I don't know the answer to that yet..."

Manic slammed his fist into his hand. "I can't believe she made a fool outta me!"

Sonic started to touch his medallion. But nothing happened. "That's weird..."

Manic shrugged. "I'll just sing. The music's in my head."

_All your life is just a disguise  
All you gave, a thousand lies  
I know hate's no clue  
Don't want to stay where there's no answer_

With myself I'm in disgrace  
But I was pushed into this maze  
Oh my thoughts are new  
Now I am sure to remember

I'm wasting my time to wait for solutions  
I seek out the sun, a ray of light to clear my way

THIS IS NOT THE ORIGINAL DREAM  
WE ALL DRIFT WITH THE POWERFUL STREAM  
FINDING A WAY TO ESCAPE INTO ANOTHER WORLD

Here I am, my soul has grown  
I've learned from everything I've done  
Yeah now my love is true  
I know it will stay forever

And all my life was built on illusions  
I seek out the sun, a ray of light crossed my way

THIS IS NOT THE ORIGINAL DREAM  
WE ALL DRIFT WITH THE POWERFUL STREAM  
FINDING A WAY TO ESCAPE INTO ANOTHER WORLD

Spent all my life to wait for solutions  
I seek out the sun, a ray of light to clear my way

I've found a guide through my own emotions  
A field of light, my new horizon

THIS IS NOT THE ORIGINAL DREAM  
WE ALL DRIFT WITH THE POWERFUL STREAM  
TRYIN' TO ESCAPE INTO ANOTHER WORLD

Rouge looked at the boys. "Okay, guys. I got a plan to send Fiona packing!"

Around the citadel, Rouge slinked about from building to building, looking for a way in. She spotted an orange grate in the leading into the air duct system. She flew up to it and started to pull off the grate.

A flash of light blinded Rouge for a moment before powerful orange arms wrapped around the back. "Caught ya!"

"Hey, let go! This is no way to treat a lady!" Rouge growled, trying to kick.

Sleet laughed as he approached the bat. "Rouge the Bat. Famous jewel thief. Spying for King Jules, no doubt! Well we have you this time!"

He laughed as Rouge stared at him in horror.

Sleet looked over Rouge as she struggled in Dingo's arms. "Don't bother, Bat. Soon you'll be accommodated into Robotnik's robotisizer. And it would be I who did it, not that troublesome fox!"

Sonic suddenly slammed into Sleet, knocking him down. "At least the fox is better looking than you, Sleet-Meat!"

Dingo, looked around, suddenly nervous before he saw Shadow stand before him. He froze, sweating. Rouge wasn't sure what Dingo was gonna do.

One step forward from Shadow was enough to send Dingo off screaming bloody murder, dropping Rouge and running over Sleet in the process.

Shadow helped Rouge to her feet. "Morons are easy to deal with once you know how to handle them..."

Suddenly Rouge dodged away into the are as Shadow and Sonic were both netted. Fiona approached them, Chaos by her side. "Clever girls, on the other hand, are never easy to handle."

"Not again!" Sonic said, exasperated as he and Shadow struggled in the net.

She looked to Chaos. "Take them to the Robotisizer. Its time my end of the bargain was paid."

Apparently she completely forgot about Rouge, or didn't see her, as the bat hovered in the air. She landed after Fiona and Chaos were gone from sight, speaking out. "They're gone, Manic."

Manic came out from around a building. "Well THAT could of gone better."

"Eh, you can't factor in idiots like Sleet and Dingo all the time. Okay, so the plan needs appending. Easy to fix. Lets just get down to the Robotisizer and fast."

Manic and Rouge moved as quick as they could to sneak into the citadel. Luckily when Dingo morphed, he left the air duct wide open. They sneaked down the tunnel, headed for where Manic knew the Robotisizer was. They paused over a grate, watching as Fiona over saw the controls of the Robotisizer, while Chaos brought a struggling Sonic over to the machine. "UGH! Lemme go you walking puddle of water!"

Fiona tsked. "I'm rather disappointed in you, Sonic. I would of expected a better fight."

Suddenly the grate of the air duct was kicked out and Rouge landed. "That's because you seriously underestimate his friends!"

Fiona smirked, turning to face her. "Rouge the Bat! So you exist in this world I see."

She took to a fighting stance. "Let's see what you got, Bat Bitch."

Rouge tsked. "Such language!"

"It'll be more than my foul mouth you'll have to watch for!" Fiona grinned before running forward. Rouge ran towards her as well, meeting in the middle and exchanging punches and kicks, martial arts style.

While Fiona was distracted, Manic ran forward and freed Shadow from the net, while Sonic still struggled in Chaos's grasp. Manic looked to Shadow. "Come on, we gotta free Sonic!"

Shadow looked around, knowing he had to find SOMETHING to attack Chaos with. "I need a weapon! My chaos powers are useless!"

Manic produced twin pistols from his pack. "I borrowed them from Rouge, now take Chaos out!"

Shadow took the guns, nodding and turned towards the water creature, taking aim for its head without targeting Sonic in the process.

BLAM!

Chaos dropped Sonic, squealing as it melted into a puddle. That was enough to send Chaos away real fast. Sonic smiled to Shadow before turning to the fight between Rouge and Fiona. "As much as I wanna see the outcome of this result on its own, I think I'd better go ahead and end this!"

Sonic went into a spin dash, knocking himself into Fiona. She screeched and looked up at Sonic, who was standing over her. "YOU!"

"Its over, Fiona. You lose!"

Fiona grinned, touching a device on her arm. "This is FAR from over, Sonic the Hedgehog! This is only the beginning. You'll be seeing me again real soon!"

She suddenly disappeared in a flash of shadows.

Sonic blinked. "Where'd she go?"

Rouge stood beside Sonic, Shadow and Manic. "Back to the Dark Dimension, no doubt."

Shadow inhaled deeply. "At least she took that chaos neutralizer with her. I can feel the energies again..."

He suddenly handed her the twin pistols. "That reminds me, I believe Manic borrowed these from you...probably when you weren't looking. Its best I'd give them back to you."

Rouge smiled. "Keep them. You're better at using them than I am."

She turned her head to Manic, smirking. "Besides, if I really wanted to keep them, I would of never let Manic get away with taking them from me in the first place."

Manic flushed a DEEP red at this.

As they began leaving the citadel, they still had a slight problem: a slightly upset Sleet and a nervous Dingo, who blocked their exit path. "None of you are leaving! You are all under arrest!"

Rouge smirked, stepping forward boldly. "Sleet, sweetie, darling. Might as well let us through. I still have the pictures of you from Starlight City..."

Sleet paled at the mention of this. "You...you wouldn't-!"

"Honey, I got the goods. Do you really want to tempt me?"

Suddenly Sleet shoved Dingo against the side, as he himself pressed to the wall. "Let them pass! LET THEM PASS!"

Rouge laughed as she and the others walked passed by them. Manic looked back and waved with a smile. "Bye!"

Sonic looked to Rouge, smirking. "What was that all about?"

"You don't want to know, believe me," Rouge merely smiled.

Later that night, Manic was hanging out with Rouge, looking up at the stars. Manic was frowning. Rouge looked to him. "You're thinking about Fiona, aren't you?"

"Yea...I miss the old days, mainly hanging with you guys. But I got more to look forward to now, my family. Sonic and Sonia...heck even Shadow would be consider part of the family, since Sonic likes him so much."

"Family is always important...so are friends. Don't worry, Manic, the real Fiona's still out there somewhere. You'll find her. I'll help!"

Manic smiled to Rouge getting up. "Thanks Rouge. I better get going."

"Be safe, okay? Your family isn't the only one who cares about you..." Rouge said.

Manic frowned and hugged Rouge. "You be safe too."

He started to turn before he looked back at Rouge, pulling out a present. "Oh yea, I got a present for you..."

He handed her the box and began to leave.

Rouge opened it and gasped. It was a large diamond. She held it up, smiling. "Manic, you know my heart well!"

Manic was already gone, but she smiled anyway, turning the diamond to look at all of it.

That was when she saw the lipstick on the side. Her lipstick.

"MANIC THE HEDGEHOG!!"

"This is Not the Original Dream" is performed by Beautiful Sin from the album The Unexpected.


	8. Bodacious Babes from the Dark Dimension

-1Out in the Mystic Ruins, Sleet and Dingo stood, overseeing an excavation into a mountain. Sleet chuckled.

"If Dr. Robotnik is right, we'll have easy access to another chaos emerald and a new resource of power!"

"I thought we were looking for a valley, Sleet," Dingo spoke. "Why we digging into the mountain?"

"Because, the valley is hidden and blocked," Sleet said, pulling out a green stone. "This gem is a key to unlocking the secret Valley of the Wind. According to the local legend, the wind is generated by a jewel of chaotic power."

"Sounds like a chaos emerald to me."

"That's exactly what it is-" Sleet started to toss the stone up and down in his hand. "And soon we will have one more chaos emerald!"

On the 5th toss, the stone failed to return to Sleet's hand. he looked around, panicked. "Where's the rock?!"

A shadow skittered off, running through the forest. Sleet growled. "AFTER THAT THIEF!"

The shadow ran down the path, on its way back to Station Square, when it ran into a blue hedgehog. Falling over, Sonic was helped to his feet by Shadow as Sonic looked to the shadow. "Hey, what's the big area!"

Emerald eyes focused on a familiar red fox. Sonic jumped back. "Fiona!"

Fiona stared, eyes widening in horror as she stared at the blue hedgehog. She screeched and ran in the other direction. Sonic rubbed the back of his head and looked around, seeing Sleet and Dingo approaching in the distance. "Well well, the Loser Twins are here as well..." He looked to Shadow. "Ready to par-tay?"

"As long as I get to dance with you," Shadow winked, pulling out his chaos emerald.

Meanwhile, Fiona ran through the forest, just trying to get away, when she bumped into another figure. She screeched as arms wrapped around her. "No, NO!"

"Fiona!" The sound of Manic's voice broke through, the hedgehog holding her until she calmed down. "Fiona, its okay, its me!"

"Manic...?" She looked up to the green hedgehog in surprise, as Rouge the Bat landed beside them.

"Rouge!" She looked to Rouge, smiling. "Oh guys, its been forever!" She hugged them both. "We gotta get outta here, bad guys are after me!"

Manic smiled. "Its okay, Fiona. My brother has it handled!"

"You don't understand! One of-wait...brother? What brother?"

"Oh yea! Fiona, I found my family! I have a brother and a sister-"

Fiona turned when she heard rustling noises. She gasped when Sonic came out. "I took care of ol' wolf-faces. You okay, bro?"

Fiona looked at Manic, eyes wide as manic smiled. "Fiona, I'd like you to meet my brother, Sonic the Hedgehog."

--

Sonic Underground CHAOS

Bodacious Babes from the Dark Dimension

written by Sonic Remix

Sonic the Hedgehog and related characters and indicia © and ™ 1991-2008 SEGA - Sonic Team

--

Down in Station Square, Sonic, Shadow, Manic, and Rouge arrived with Fiona, who was talking to Manic.

"I'm sorry about freaking out before. Its a long story. I'm only glad you and Rouge came looking for me."

Manic shrugged. "Eh, its okay. So where are your friends?"

"There they are," Fiona said, pointing out to a couple of street performers. A rabbit was playing a synthesizer set up, and a pink hedgehog was on the drums. Fiona waved to them. "Bunnie, Thorn, over here!"

Bunnie and Thorn grinned, leaving their set up to meet with their friend. "Fiona, yer back!" Bunnie said.

She nodded. "Yup, another day of saving the forest done by me. Hey, I'd like you to meet my friends Manic and Rouge. We were buddies when I was little. Manic, Rouge, this is Bunnie and Thorn. We go way back, to when we first came to Robotropolis!"

Suddenly Bunnie and Thorn paled, looking over Fiona's shoulder. Fiona looked back and noticed Sonic approaching them. Fiona waved her hands. "Guys, guys, calm down, its not who you think it is!"

The two girls swallowed nervously as Sonic waved, uneasily. "Uh...hi?"

"Okay, why does everyone keep staring at me like I'm the devil in disguise??" Sonic demanded once they were back in the van.

Fiona sighed, sitting down in a seat as Sonic drove. "Its hard to explain...its really...weird..."

"Try me," Sonic said. "You'd be surprised at what I can accept."

She took a deep breath. "Me, Bunnie and Thorn are from another world."

All eyes except for Sonic's turned on Fiona now as she continued. "Another world, where a lot of mean, violent people live. Its like the total opposite of this world. Its called-"

"The Dark Dimension," Manic spoke.

Fiona looked at him. "Yea, how'd you know?"

"We ran into Dark Fiona a few weeks ago. That was the main reason we came looking for you," Manic said.

"But didn't she say SHE was from the Dark Dimension?" Sonic asked.

Fiona blinked. "But...I'm from the Dark Dimension...how can she be?"

"Maybe she's really from here, but did like you and went to live in the Dark Dimension," Rouge suggested. "You guys just switched places."

"But...if your from the Dark Dimension, how come you're so nice?" Manic asked.

Fiona sighed. "Not everyone is mean...just-"

"-opposite of how we are?" Rouge asked.

Fiona nodded. "Yea..." She looked to Sonic. "Anyway, when I was a little kid, there was this bully always picking on me and my friends...him and his gang...an...evil...Sonic."

Manic blinked. "Hey, we met an evil Sonic before! And an evil me and an evil version of my sister...but we made them good again!"

Fiona shook her head. "Evil Sonic didn't have siblings."

"Well...I didn't know about my family till a few years ago...maybe your Sonic didn't know of his back then..."

"One problem with that theory, bro," Sonic spoke up. "The evil us we met had ALWAYS been together and living in the palace. This doesn't sound like the same guy."

"There's thousands of dimensions that are possible," Shadow said. "It was a theory the...an old friend once told me about...maybe we're just dealing another dimension..."

"Yea...just like the time we went to an alternate dimension where Sleet was the ruler of the city in an ancient time setting!" Manic said.

"Maybe we should be on our guard. It seems this dimension hopping thing is more frequent than you may think," Rouge pointed out.

Near the hotel, Sleet and Dingo watched, hidden as the Sonic Underground arrived, dropping off Bunnie and Thorn, who said to meet up with them later. The others headed inside to meet up with Sonia.

Sleet held up a data pad, pictures of Bunnie and Thorn showing up on it. "Its them alright, the targets we been looking for." Sleet picked up a communicator. "We have them."

A female voice replied. "About time."

There was a flash of shadows from behind. The two turned to face Dark Fiona.

An hour later, Thorn returned to the hotel, meeting up with the others. "Hey, we finished packing the band equipment. Bunnie's getting some food for us."

Fiona nodded, looking at the stone in her hand. Manic looked at her. "So whatcha got there?"

"Oh, something I swiped from Wolf-Head. He was looking for the Valley of the Wind, so I grabbed it before he could use it to find it."

"The Valley of the What?" Sonic asked, moving in.

"Its an old legend in the forest, one of many. I protect the forest to keep looters like the bad guys back there from stealing the treasures and ruining the forest," Fiona explained.

"Treasure? What treasure?" Rouge asked, her large ears twitching at the word.

Fiona stared at the stone. "Its called a chaos emerald. Its what generates the winds in the valley..."

Sonic got up to his feet. "Then we gotta find that valley before Buttnik's goons do!"

Fiona nodded in agreement.

"You guys go ahead," Manic waved to them. "Me, Sonia, and Thorn will wait up for Bunnie and meet up with ya."

Manic, Thorn, and Sonia waited an hour. Manic had just sat to watch the TV when he heard the door open and Bunnie's voice spoke. "Guys, we're back!"

Manic grinned, turning his head. "Cool, Bunnie-"

Then he paled. Dark Fiona stared back at him with a grin. "Hello Manic...we meet again."

Manic leaped to her feet. "Bunnie, get away from her!"

Bunnie blinked, edging away. "Why, what's going on??"

"That's not Fiona!" Manic growled, glaring at the fox.

Dark Fiona laughed, smirking at Manic. "You got that right, cutie. So here's the million mobium question: Where's my goodie-two shoes counterpart?"

"Wouldn't you like to know," Manic glared darkly.

Dark Fiona took a step forward. "Well then, I think I'll-AGH!"

A laser suddenly knocked Dark Fiona off her feet, Sonia gripping her keyboard gun in her hands.

Manic grabbed Bunnie's hand, running past the fallen fox. "RUN FOR IT!"

Manic, Sonia, Bunnie, and Thorn stood outside, panting after running from the fox. Bunnie looked at Manic. "That was the evil Fiona? She looks just like our Fiona!"

"I know. And she's after us for some reason. But why?"

Meanwhile, Sonic, Shadow, Rouge and Fiona were traveling through the Mystic Forest, on the search for the hidden valley. Fiona was talking and answering the questions of the others. "I don't like violence, so I figured my best course of action was to protect this forest by non-violent means. Stealing items, mainly. Objects, weapons...keys. Anything to hinder the bad guys."

"Quite the pacifist. She's our Fiona alright," Rouge grinned.

"Lemme guess, the evil one is very violent."

"Yes," all three said at once.

Sonic pursed his lips, being very quiet. Shadow leaned into Sonic. "You okay?"

Sonic nodded and dashed off for a second. Rouge blinked. "What was that all about?"

They suddenly heard gagging noises of someone vomiting. Sweatdrop. "Oh."

"Again?" Shadow blinked. "He threw up this morning!"

A pale Sonic came back moments later, not looking the greatest. Shadow took Sonic into his arms immediately. "Sonic, you need to tell me if you're ill!"

Sonic gently pushed Shadow away. "Shadow, I'm fine. My stomach's just been twisting in knots the last few days."

Shadow blinked. "Okay...but if this continues, we're taking you to the doctor, no buts about it."

Sonic stiffened a bit mainly due to the embarrassment of weakness in front of the ladies. "-Shadow, I'm FINE. I can take care of myself!"

Shadow sighed. "FINE."

The four walked in uneasy silence towards a cave set Fiona never ran across before. As they entered it, Sonic felt the need to break the silence. "So...Fiona...my brother seems to really like you..."

Fiona blushed badly at this. "Oh...yea...we...dated for a bit."

"Really? No way! No wonder he was so obsessed about finding you. How you guys didn't stay together?"

Fiona looked down, feeling real nervous now about talking about this to Manic's brother who was also the counterpart of someone she had feared all her life. "He...I felt smothered."

"Smothered?"

She nodded. "He was there with me, all the time, constantly! I had to get away from him just so I could have some me time...I didn't know how to tell him...or face him..."

Rouge rolled her eyes. "She ran away. Fiona, I told you that if you didn't tell Manic how you really felt, he'd only search after you!"

"But...he didn't. He didn't come after me...at least, not until that other me showed up...why?"

Rouge sighed. "I told him. I couldn't see the guy put an effort into finding you when you didn't want to be found."

"How'd he take the news?"

"...he blamed himself."

Fiona blinked. "Really...he...he wasn't mad at me?"

"Quite the contrary. He never blamed you for leaving him. So he put off looking for you. He hoped maybe one day you would forgive him and you come back to him."

"And when the other me showed up?"

"He was worried about you. Worried you might be in danger. I volunteered to help find you. I have access to a lot of equipment."

Fiona nodded. "Wow..."

Suddenly the four heard voices and silenced, listening close. Outside, Sleet and Dingo were there, talking.

"This must be the entrance we been looking for. Leave it for that dumb fox to lead us straight to the valley."

Suddenly their communicator rang. Dark Fiona's voice sounded. "Bunnie and Thorn got away with the Sonic Underground! They may attempt to head your way!"

Sleet smirked. "Not a problem! We'll be waiting for those brats when they show!"

Inside, Fiona shook. "Oh no...that other me's after Bunnie and Thorn...I gotta warn them!"

"No problem," Sonic spoke. "Me and Shadow can Chaos Control to them in a Sonic Second. You and Rouge stay here and find the entrance to the valley."

He started to grab onto Shadow, when Fiona stopped them. "No. I'll go with Shadow. You need to be the one to stay here in case those two guys show up. Rouge will want a fighter with her. Sending messages are for pacifists like me."

She handed Sonic the stone to the valley. Sonic blinked. "You actually trust me?"

Fiona smiled slightly. "I trust any brother of the great Manic the Hedgehog."

Manic, Sonia, Bunnie and Thorn were out in the town square, discussing on what to do about Dark Fiona, when Shadow Chaos Controlled next to them with Fiona. Fiona looked at them. "Guys!"

"Fiona, that really you?" Manic asked.

Shadow nodded. "Don't worry, this is the real Fiona."

Fiona looked to her friends. "That Faux Fox is after us for some reason. We have to get outta here!"

Shadow stiffened suddenly, looking around, alert with his quills raised. Fiona looked to Shadow. "What is it?"

"The air is dead," Shadow said, looking around, alerted.

"Huh?"

Manic looked around as well. "Shadow can sense chaos energies in the air. The evil Fiona has this device that nullifies the energies in the area. Dead air means she's near the area."

"Then I suggest we run...like NOW."

Out into the forest, the group traveled. Fiona, Bunnie, and Thorn were rather shaken up about being pursued. "You know, its this kind of crap that made us want to leave the Dark Dimension to begin with!"

Shadow walked, looking to them. "Sounds like you guys had it rough for a long time."

Fiona sighed. "I just wanna be like other girls..."

_I wanna be like other girls  
I wanna see what other girls see  
Just to be free like other girls_

GET TO BE

nanana,na.na.na,nanana,na.na.na,nanana,na.na.na,  
wooooo

To wear my old jeans  
To eat a whole cake  
Feel the sun on my feet  
Be quiet, be crazy  
Be anything I want to be  
Dance around in my underwear

To walk by myself  
Do nothing all day  
To eat a whole cake  
Be cranky (with frosting)

No cameras  
No pressures  
No phonies  
No hairjam  
No people who think that they know me but don't  
No platform shoes

I wanna be like other girls  
I wanna see what other girls see  
Just to be free like other girls

woooo woooo

I wanna be like other girls  
I wanna see what other girls see  
Just to be free like other girls

GET TO BE

nanana,na.na.na.,nanana,na.na.na.,nanana,  
na.na.na.woooo

To stay in one place  
To sleep until 3  
To meet a nice guy who likes me for me

No cameras  
No pressures  
No phonies  
No hairjam  
No people who think that they know me but don't  
No platform shoes

I wanna be like other girls  
I wanna see what other girls see  
Just to be free like other girls 

_I wanna be like other girls  
I wanna see what other girls see  
Just to be free like other girls_

woooo woooo

I wanna be like other girls  
I wanna see what other girls see  
Just to be free like other girls  
Just to be free like other girls

GET TO BE

They arrived at the cave, Shadow and the others suddenly becoming alert. "Be careful, the evil Fiona's nearby still, and Sleet and Dingo's waiting to spring on us..."

Speaking of spring, no one saw the giant net spring up from the ground and catch the six of them in a tree. Sleet approached them from the ground, Dark Fiona and Dingo by his side. "How right you are...my friends..."

Sonic and Rouge continued down the tunnel, stopping at what looked like a small pit. Sitting near the end what some kind of shrine, with the top of the pedistal marked with the symbol of the stone in Sonic's hand. "This looks to be it."

"Finally, we'll find the treasure!" Rouge grinned, as Sonic put the stone onto the pedestal.

The ground started to rumble loudly, and a gigantic wind began to blow from inside the pit, upward.

Nothing else happened.

"That's...it?" Rouge blinked.

"Legends aren't what they used to be," Sonic murmured.

"Its been a wild goose chase?!"

Sonic looked at Rouge. "Rouge, cool it! Let's go see if the others showed up yet. Maybe Fiona will have some answers."

"Fine," Rouge murmured as Sonic began to trek back to the entrance.

Upon come across the entrance, they heard voices outside. Unfriendly ones. Sonic peeked outside to notice Sleet, Dingo, and Dark Fiona loading their friends into Sleet's ship. "We got a big problem."

Sleet was headed to the front of the ship, when Rouge bolted out of nowhere, delivering a direct kick to his head, knocking him down. Dark Fiona and Dingo ran over to face Rouge while Sonic quickly worked to break his friends out of the ship. Unfortunately Sleet was running to get the ship running while Dark Fiona faced off Rouge for a rematch. Dingo jumped in with Sleet as the ship began to take off. The others had to jump. But Bunnie and Manic, being the last, were unable to jump as the ship got too high. Sonic yelled. "MANIC!"

"Manic, Bunnie!" Fiona yelled as well, looking frightened.

"Sonic, Fiona!" Manic yelled as they were taken away.

Sonic grabbed Shadow. "We gotta chaos control to Robotropolis, NOW!"

"I can't!" Shadow growled, glaring to the fight between Dark Fiona and Rouge. "Not with her here!"

Sonic, becoming rather aggressive all the sudden, suddenly yanked Shadow into his arms, much to the dark hedgehog's surprise and embarrassment. "What the-?!"

Boy, this was an uncomfortable position. But Sonic was aggressive as he took off, speeding off to make the run to Robotropolis himself.

Manic sat in the back of the holding area with Bunnie as they arrived in Robotropolis, waiting for Sleet to land the ship. "As soon as Sleet lands, we'll jump out and make a run for it. Don't worry, Bunnie, we'll be okay!"

Bunnie nodded quietly, scared badly now as the ship began to lower. Manic helped her to her feet. "Get ready now..."

As they landed, they bolted out, into the waiting arms of the SWATbots.

Sonic gave no quarter as he barreled through Robotropolis rather angrily, Shadow being forced to hold on for his life to Sonic. Something was seriously up with Sonic, and it bothered him to no end. But he was gonna have to wait until Sonic rescued his brother and Bunnie.

Knocking over SWATbot guards, Sonic rushed into the Robotisizer Room, where Sleet was operating the controls. Screaming, he attacked Sleet rather aggressively, while Shadow groaned, getting to his feet. The Robotisizer was active, and Manic and Bunnie were in two separate tubes. Shadow ran to the controls, to get the process to shut down.

Sonic was beating mercilessly on Sleet, kicking him away before Shadow yelled. "SONIC!"

Sonic's head turned, looking towards the Robotisizer as two figures stumbled out.

Both of them had been half-way robotisized, with metallic legs, and a metallic left arm. Both of them were rather dizzy as Manic weakly fell to his knees, seriously out of it.

Shadow had been watching this, when he felt a sudden surge of chaos in the air. But this was not the normal surge from a chaos control.

This was much darker.

Shadow turned his head.

And stumbled back in complete shock.

Sonic's fur had become darker in color, almost a midnight blue. And a black aura rose from him, eyes almost completely blank with rage as his quills spiked.

Even Sleet was worried, looking at Sonic's back, when he heard the hedgehog chuckled VERY lowly.

This was NOT good.

Sonic turned on Sleet, glaring at him now. "That...was your LAST mistake, Mutt."

Sonic backed up, ready to move in for the kill, when black arms suddenly wrapped around Sonic.

Shadow rested his chin on the startled hedgehog's shoulder. Though Shadow looked calm, deep inside he was surely afraid of what was happening to Sonic. He spoke in a soft voice, contrary to how he spoke in the past. "Shh...calm yourself, my love. Don't let the chaos control your anger. This is not who you are."

Sonic shook in Shadow's arms. As powerful as the blue hedgehog was, and as easily could he kill Shadow in one blow, there was something on Shadow that gave him the strongest protection of all. "He hurt my brother, Shadow...I can never forgive him for that."

"I'm not asking you to forgive him...but you're not a killer. If you killed him, what would your brother say?"

Sonic's eyes widen, and he looked to Manic, who was starting to come to. He looked up at Sonic blankly. "...bro...?"

Shadow felt the negative energies of the chaos suddenly release as Sonic let go of his anger, his color flushing back to a bright blue.

Sonic collapsed in Shadow's arms.

Shadow scooped Sonic up as he looked to the frightened Sleet. "Think its still worth working for Robotnik over this? I may not be here to save you next time you tempt fate like that."

He walked over to Bunnie and Manic, insuring they were able to get to their feet and walk out as he carried Sonic out.

Near sunset, everyone had met up back in Station Square. Dark Fiona had grabbed Thorn and took her back to the Dark Dimension, and Fiona was already preparing for herself and Bunnie to head back. Manic had asked Fiona to join him privately to talk. He sat on a roof ledge, watching the sunset as Fiona approached him, sitting with him. "Hey...you doing okay...?"

Manic sighed, smiling weakly to her. "I guess I can be thankful I'm still alive. It could of been a lot worse..."

He looked to his robotic hand. "Still...its scary...I never thought I could wind up like this."

"Thinking about not fighting any more?"

Manic shook his head. "No...I'm still gonna fight...what about you though? How could you survive going into the Dark Dimension if you can't fight?"

It was Fiona's turn to smile weakly. "I lived the first 10 years of my life in the Dark Dimension. I can survive. Besides, I got Bunnie, and her...strong arm, is already proving a good thing."

Manic sighed, looking out. "Just be careful. If that evil Sonic is still there, I'm afraid of what might be capable of...especially after Shadow telling me what Sonic almost did today."

Fiona sighed. "Your brother really cares about you, doesn't he?"

"He cares about a lot of people, but especially us..."

Fiona hugged Manic. "He's definitely your brother then.."

"Fiona...I'm sorry...about all those years ago..."

Fiona put a finger to his lips. "What's past is past...you're a sweet guy...maybe...maybe when I feel more ready..."

"...when you come back...maybe we can go on a date?"

Fiona kissed his cheek. "I'd love to."_  
_

"(I Wanna Be) Like Other Girls" is performed by Atomic Kitten from the Mulan II soundtrack.


	9. Family Affair

-1Down in the main headquarters of the resistance, Sonia was in the mechanics room, watching as Cyrus and Tails looked over Manic's mechanical limbs. Manic was rather quiet before he lifted a hand, flexing the fingers as he stared at it. Cyrus looked at his shoulder joint, working some maintenance on the arm while Tails was working on making his legs work more efficiently.

Sonia looked to Manic in worry. "Manic…? Are you…okay…?"

Manic sighed, bowing his head low enough so he could compose himself before looking back up at his sister with a gentle smile. "I'll get over it, Sis. It just takes time to adjust."

Manic looked out to the window. "I'm more worried about Sonic…"

--

Sonic Underground CHAOS

Family Affair

written by Sonic Remix

Sonic the Hedgehog and related characters and indicia © and ™ 1991-2008 SEGA - Sonic Team

--

At the small health clinic in Robotropolis, Sonic and Shadow were sitting, waiting to be called in. Sonic had been lucky he was allowed to go there; the doctor and staff of that facility were resistance members that provided free healthcare for the resistance members. They usually made their money to stay open from the aristocracy who came.

Sonic was the one who was NOT happy about this visit as he sat there, folding his arms. But Shadow insisted, worried for Sonic above all else. Sonic had been sick for over a week now, and Shadow was not about to let it continue.

With no one else in the waiting room, Shadow put his arm around Sonic. "Sonic, I know you hate going, but you can keep going on like this. You need to at least find out what's wrong."

"Nothing is wrong, Shadow. I got a bug. You'll see. The doctor will say it's a bug and this will have been a waste."

"What if its not a bug though? What if it's a sign of something much worse?"

"Nothing is WRONG with me!"

Shadow backed off. Sonic had been acting weird as well, with these sudden mood swings. It worried him to no end.

Before Shadow could speak again, a nurse poked her head into the waiting room. "Sonic the Hedgehog?"

Meanwhile, at the citadel, Sleet and Dingo came in, looking rather meek as Robotnik glared at them. "Sleet, your incompetence has made you fail once again!"

Robotnik marched about as he went about his ranting. "You had one of the hedgehogs in your grasp, and you let him get away!"

Sleet shook where he stood, nervous. "But sir, you don't understand. Sonic, he-"

"ITS ALWAYS ABOUT THAT BLASTED HEDGEHOG!" Robotnik growled, glaring at the wolf. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't robotisize you here and now!"

"Manic was par…par…,uh…halfway robotisized!" Dingo suddenly.

Sleet nodded vigorously. "Yes yes! Exactly!"

Robotnik turned to them suddenly. "A partial robotisization?"

"Yes sir…" Sleet nodded.

Robotnik put a hand to his chin. "This may work to our advantage…" He looked to them. "Capture the hedgehog and bring him here."

Sleet's eyes widen. "B-but sir! You don't understand, Sonic would-"

"Would WHAT? Any worse than being robotisized for disobeying, Sleet?!"

Sleet swallowed. Caught between a rock and a hard place. For the first time, he was starting to feel that he may of gotten themselves in this WAY too deep.

Several hours later, Manic and Sonia were out, walking home from the base. Manic was talking about Tails. "So apparently Pa's taking Tails on a secret mission."

Sonia smiled. "Oh, that's so sweet. Tails is always talking how Father's always taken care of him. I know he hasn't be able to spend much time with him since Tails joined the resistance."

"Tails deserves spending time with him. Us, we grew up with foster parents. Tails knows Pa better than any of us."

"Almost makes me jealous. But I know better. Tails is sweet, and Father will always want to spend time with us as well."

Suddenly they heard sirens, and became surrounded by SWATbots. "PRIOITY ONE, HEDGEHOGS."

Manic and Sonia grabbed each other. There were too many to take on their own.

From a far distance, Sleet quietly watched Manic and Sonia be brought back to his ship.

That distance was kept as Manic and Sonia were brought to Robotnik himself, sitting them up in the Robotisizer room. But neither one was put in. Instead, Robotnik was looking over Manic's robotisized limbs. Manic struggled in his bindings. "Hey! A little personal space!"

Robotnik laughed. "You have no demand to make of me, hedgehog…"

He looked over again. "Fortunate for you that I can't robotisize you the rest of the way…but you can't be derobotisized either."

Manic gasped and looked down. Sonia struggled in her bindings. "Manic, don't listen to him! We'll find a way, we will!"

Suddenly there was a flash of light, and Shadow appeared with Sonic in his arms. "Hold it right there, Doctor!"

The first noise heard was NOT a yell from Robotnik, but rather a scream from Sleet, who grabbed Dingo and dove behind a console. Robotnik looked back and growled. "Sleet, you coward, get them!"

"ARE YOU INSANE?!"

"Sleet, how dare you disobey me!"

While Robotnik was distracted, Shadow pulled Sonic off to the side. "Sonic, stay here and stay calm. I don't need anymore complications."

Sonic bristled, looking at Shadow. "What??"

Shadow gave no reply, dashing to Manic to get him and Sonia untied.

Robotnik growled. "ARGH, you two are useless. SWATBOTS! GET THEM!"

Sonic, not about to stand aside idly, ran over to Robotnik, going into a spin dash and knocking him over. "Sorry to have to spin and run, Buttnik, ol' boy, but we gotta jam!"

Sonic ran over to Shadow. "Get us out of here!"

Shadow nodded silently, grabbing everyone and chaos controlling out of the building.

Back at the safe house, Manic and Sonia stood to one side, watching in bewilderment as Sonic and Shadow went after each other verbally, their voices getting louder with each exchange.

"Sonic, I told you to stay put! I can't risk putting you in danger!"

"I get into danger all the time! You can't tell me what I can and can't do!"

"Sonic, this isn't JUST about you anymore!"

Sonic rolled his eyes. "Oh yes yes, right, the STUPID doctor's visit!"

Shadow groaned, putting his head to his hand. "The doctor warned me about this…"

Sonic sighed. "You know what, let's just get off the subject. I'm getting a headache…"

Sonia and Manic blinked, looking at each other. "Do you have any idea what they're talking about, Sis?"

"Not a clue, Manic, other than Sonic's brain is more overdone than usual…"

Shadow's ear twitched, looking back at the two. "Its nothing. Just something between me and Sonic for now…"

Suddenly the video communicator beeped at a console, and Sonia walked over to answer it. It was Trevor, the mouse. "Hey guys!"

Sonic walked over, smiling. "Trevor, yo! What's up?"

"Well, me and the guys were wondering if you guys wanna help us on the next supply trip to Sanctuary? Robotnik's beefed up security since the last run, and we could really use the help!"

Shadow, curious, looked to Sonic. "Sanctuary?"

Sonic looked back at Shadow. "Uh…yea…its where the freedom fighters keep the kids safe at."

Shadow blinked at Sonic at this while Sonia was talking to Trevor. "Yea, me and Manic are in, but I don't know about Sonic and Shadow-"

"We'll do it," Shadow said suddenly.

Sonic blinked at Shadow. "WE will?"

Shadow grabbed Sonic's hands, looking at him. "It could be a good thing for us to go…especially with our…problems…"

Sonic sighed, looking down before smiling weakly back up at Shadow. "I guess you're right…Okay, we're in."

"Great!" Trevor grinned. "See you guys at 14:00!"

Just as Trevor hung up, Sonia got a call on her personal video line. She answered. "Hello?"

"Sonia, ya gotta help, please!"

Sonia stared in disbelief.

Dingo was calling.

Sonia stared at the monitor as the boys rushed in. "You want OUR help? Why should we?!"

Dingo was looking rather desperate as he looked at Sonia. "I donno who else ta turn to! Sleet's gonna get robotisized!"

"And we should care, why?"

"He's getting robotisized cause he didn't do as Robotnik said. He's been more scared of your brother! Please Sonia, I donno who else can help...you're the good guys! Ya can't let Sleet get robotisized!"

Sonia groaned. "My conscious will never let me sleep at this rate. FINE. But you guys owe us BIG time. You're NOT to be bugging us ever again! Leave town and never come back!"

"ANYTHING! Just help, please!"

Sonic pushed in. "One question. Why should YOU care what happens to Sleet? He hasn't exactly been nice to you."

"I hate how Sleet treats me, but at least he lets me hang out with him. I got nowhere else to go. He needs me as much as I need him. I'm not stupid or anything..."

The triplets eyed each other at this statement, leaving Shadow to sigh. "ALRIGHT. Guys, stay here. I'll go after the wolf-faces."

"I'm not staying. I'm gonna go with you," Sonic protested.

"NO Sonic. Stay here. I'll talk to you about this AFTER I get back."

"BUT-"

"CHAOS CONTROL!"

Shadow disappeared, reappearing inside the Robotisizer Room. Dingo was off in the far corner while Sleet was in the Robotisizer, screaming as the machine was starting to power up. "NO, NOOOO!!"

"Show's over, Doctor!" Shadow growled, summoning a chaos spear and trashing the console before Robotnik. Robotnik growled. "HEDGEHOG!"

Shadow ran to the Robotisizer tube, smashing it open and grabbing Sleet. He continued to yell as he ran and grabbed at Dingo's arm. He glared at Sleet. "Oh SHUT UP you big baby."

He chaos controlled out of the citadel.

Shadow appeared back in the Safe house about an hour later, finding everyone had left. Blinking, he looked around and found a note from Manic, saying they had headed down to headquarters. Shadow sighed and ran off, his chaos energy drained from the rescue. Upon arriving at the resistance base, he found some people moving around, packing various supplies into bags and boxes to carry to Sanctuary. Shadow spotted Sonic off to one side packing a bag. He sighed and walked over to his table. "Hey, I'm here now..."

No response. Shadow blinked, and reached out, putting a hand on Sonic's shoulder. "Sonic?"

Sonic yanked out of Sonic's reach, leaving Shadow to draw his hand back. "Sonic? What's wrong?"

He looked up and glared at Shadow. "You know what's wrong."

Shadow sighed, moving his hands to rub his temples. "Sonic, I told you before, I can't risk your safety, not now-"

"I RISK MY LIFE EVERYDAY!" Sonic screamed, drawing the attention of his nearby siblings. Sonic glared at Shadow. "I wouldn't do these things if I didn't think I would make it. I CAN make it! I can do it! I'm not some porcelain doll you can keep locked up!"

Shadow stared at Sonic, bewildered as Sonic continued. "I'm not afraid cause I know what I can do!"  
"But I AM," Shadow spoke.

Sonic stopped and stared at Shadow. "...wha...?"

"I'm TERRIFIED, Sonic!" Shadow grabbed Sonic's arms firmly. "I'm scared that something WILL happen to you! You may know what you're doing, but so do I. I need to protect you...more than ever now...I love you...I would DIE if anything were to happen to you. And there is ALWAYS a chance, no matter how GOOD you are, that something COULD happen to you. YOU maybe willing to risk, but I'm not, because I'M afraid. And...and besides-"

Sonic blinked. "Besides-?"

"There's more than one life at stake now...and I can't bare to see anything bad happen."

Sonic's eyes finally softened, before approaching Shadow, cupping his cheek. "Shadow...I'm sorry...I just don't like feeling helpless...its not something I'm used to..."

Shadow looked at Sonic's eyes, grasping the hand cupping his cheek. "All I ask...is that you take better concern of the risks you take...I want you with me...but I don't want you being reckless..."

Sonic sighed, laying his head on Shadow's chest. "Perhaps I do need this trip to Sanctuary..."

Shadow held Sonic. "We both do..."

Meanwhile, down in the Mystic Ruins, Tails and Jules were traveling through a tunnel. The sound of a giant wind tunnel could be heard.

"Sonic said the entrance to the Wind Valley was this way! If I'm right, there's a chaos emerald this way!" Jules yelled over the wind to Tails, his quills blowing furiously.

"I hope so! We could use it!" Tails yelled back.

They approached the end of the tunnel, the pit of wind blowing up. Tails looked to Jules. "Now what'll we do??"

In the small, remote village of Sanctuary, children ran around, having fun as they tossed a ball back and forth with Sonic. Nearby, Shadow watched with a smile as Sonic played with the children. He finally walked over to join the kids and Sonic in their game.

One of the kids looked to Sonic. "A song, a song!"

Suddenly the rest of the kids were running to Sonic and his siblings. "Yea! Please play a song!"

Sonic laughed. "Okay guys! We'll play a song!"

_Be happy...  
Come on let's go get it on!  
Be happy. Be happy...  
Come on let's go get it on!  
Be happy...  
Everybody let's go have some fun_

I don't want to waste my time on simple little things  
I'd rather stay here all the night with happy boys who sings  
Come on let's go get it on, everybody let's go have some fun

I've got a feeling you could use a little smile,  
Hoping you could stay there for just a little while  
Making a lot of noise up there, throw your hands up in the air

I don't want to waste my time on simple little things  
I'd rather stay here all the night with everyone who sings

Happy boys and happy girls, will be  
We are the happy boys and girls  
Happy boys and happy girls, will be  
So happy, yeah! so, so happy, yeah!

Happy boys and happy girls, will be  
We are the happy boys and girls  
Happy boys and happy girls, will be  
Oh yeah, so happy...

Try with an eagle it will make you look so nice  
And if you start to warm, you can further break the ice  
come on let's go get it on, everybody let's go have some fun

I've got a feeling you could use a little smile  
Hoping you could stay there for just a little while  
Making a lot of noise up there, throw your hands up in the air

I don't want to waste my time on simple little things  
I'd rather stay here all the night with everyone who sings

Happy boys and happy girls, will be  
We are the happy boys and girls  
Happy boys and happy girls, will be  
So happy, yeah! so, so happy, yeah!

Happy boys and happy girls, will be  
We are the happy boys and girls  
Happy boys and happy girls, will be  
Oh yeah, so happy...

Young and old.  
Be happy. Everyone... Be happy  
I'm sure you could. Be happy...  
'Cause happy boys and happy girls is around the world

Be happy...  
Come on let's go get it on!  
Be happy...  
Everybody let's go have some fun!  
Be happy...  
Come on let's go get it on!  
Be happy...  
Everybody let's go have some fun

Happy boys and happy girls, will be  
We are the happy boys and girls  
Happy boys and happy girls, will be  
So happy, yeah! so, so happy, yeah!

Happy boys and happy girls, will be  
We are the happy boys and girls  
Happy boys and happy girls, will be  
Oh yeah, so happy...

Be happy...  
Come on let's go get it on!  
Be happy...  
Everybody let's go have some fun!  
Be happy...  
Come on let's go get it on!  
Be happy... 

Later that evening, the Sonic Underground had returned home, getting settled in. However, Shadow was going on about how fun it was to play with the kids. He even mentioned holding a baby, that made him feel...weird...in a good way.

Sonic smiled a bit and hugged Shadow suddenly. Surprised, Shadow hugged Sonic back. "Sonic?"

"I'm sorry I was mad at you earlier," Sonic spoke up. "I understand now why you felt as you did."

Shadow smiled a bit and hugged Sonic in return. "Its okay."

Suddenly the video communicator rang, leaving Sonia to answer it. Tails appeared on the screen. "Sonia! We need help, your dad's in trouble!"

This immediately drew the attention of the others as they ran to the communicator port. "Trouble?? Where??"

"Down in the Mystic Ruins. We're in the Windy Valley! Ya gotta help, please!"

Shadow suddenly looked at Sonic.

Sonic looked at Shadow.

Shadow finally nodded to Sonic and looked back to the screen. "We'll be there shortly, Tails."

Shadow grabbed Sonic and the others, pulling them close. "Okay, let's do this...CHAOS CONTROL!"

They appeared in the tunnel that Sonic had discovered not too long ago, the one with the wind blowing from a pit skyward.

Shadow looked around. "So...where do we go from here, Sonic?"

Sonic stared to the wind pit, thinking as Sonia touched Sonic's shoulder. "Sonic?"

"...we ride the wind."

"Huh?"

Without speaking, Sonic ran forward, jumping into the pit. Shadow cried out, dashing forward to go after Sonic, when the wind shot him upward, towards the sky. Shadow looked back at the others before running into the wind as well, following after Sonic.

The Sonic Underground were shot HIGH into the sky over a green valley. The constant strong winds kept iron walkways and beams suspended into the air. Sonic latched onto a nearby walkway and grabbed Shadow's hand as he flew by. They formed a chain as Sonic kept a grip on the walkway to keep from flying away. Sonic's eyes quickly scanned the horizon, seeing a large, dark tornado in the distance, seeming to stay stationary in the distance but trying to pull objects from the ground. he spotted a patch of the green valley out of the way of the strong winds. "SHADOW! CHAOS CONTROL US OVER THERE!"

Without hesitating, Shadow concentrated, the four appearing on the hill away from the strong winds in an instant.

Sonic looked around, scanning the horizon towards the tornado for Tails, when the orange fox landed beside them. Sonic turned to Tails. "You okay, buddy?"

"Yea, but your dad's trapped in the tornado!" Tails said, pointing to it in the distance.

"What happened?!" Sonia asked.

Tails looked to them. "The king said he wanted to find the chaos emerald that was rumored to be here. he found the way into the valley and found it! But when he grabbed it, this huge tornado suddenly formed around him! I managed to fly out in time and called you guys!"

Sonic turned to Shadow suddenly. "Shadow?"

Shadow scanned the horizon, watching the twister. "Its a Chaos Storm. I think your father may of accidentally started it when he took the chaos emerald from its place. It COULD be the violet chaos emerald. That one's been rumored to be the most temperamental of the emeralds..." He looked to Tails. "I need a steel box!"

Tails pulled off his backpack, searching through it before he pulled one out. "Jules DID tell me to bring one...but how'd you know?"

Shadow looked back to the tornado. "The king must know a lot on Chaos emeralds..."

He took the box, grabbed Sonic, and chaos controlled out of sight, probably to the tornado.

Sonia and Manic watched the tornado with worry. "Hope they're okay," Sonia said, biting her lip.

Manic blinked. "Me too..."

That's when he suddenly swung his metal fist at Sonia.

Sonia was suspended, high in the air, as Tails held on to her hands, just out of Manic's reach as he tried to jump up and swing at Sonia with his metal limbs. "MANIC! What're you DOING?!"

"Its not me! I can't control them!" Manic yelped, eyes wide in horror as his body continued to try and jump up.

"What's wrong with him, Tails?!" Sonia asked, bewildered.

Tails watched Manic with worry, thinking.

Sonic and Shadow appeared on either side of Jules, who was holding onto a walkway in the eye of the tornado for dear life. Sonic looked to his father. "DAD!"

Jules looked to his son, startled. "Sonic! Its the chaos emerald! It started this storm!"

"I know! We have the box!" Sonic yelled, looking to Shadow, who gripped onto the pole of the walkway, holding out the box.

Jules, gripping onto the violet emerald with one hand, quickly reached over and put it into the box and shut it. Suddenly the winds died down, dropping the trio onto a grassy turf. Shadow grabbed them and chaos controlled back to the hill with the others, only to be greeted by a swinging Manic.

"HEY! What the hell?!" Shadow yelped, grabbing the hedgehogs and pulling them out of Manic's reach. "Manic, what're you doing?!"

A low chuckle dragged Sonic's attention behind him, seeing Robotnik appear in the distance with a remote. His eyes narrowed. "Robuttnik..."

The Sonic Underground kept their distance, Sonic and Shadow facing Manic off while Robotnik stood in the background, controlling the remote. "Robuttnik's controlling Manic's robotisized half! We gotta find a way to stop him!" Sonic called back.

"But how'd he find us out here so fast? We chaos controlled here!" Sonia yelled.

"He must of already been out here, tracking us when we came out this way!" Jules yelled. "He has a base out this way!"

Sonic glared towards Robotnik, but dodged another swing from Manic. Shadow was actually glad Manic was distracting Sonic.

Otherwise they'd be in a lot of trouble.

Sonic focused more on Manic, dodging his swings as Manic apologized again and again. Sonia watched, feeling helpless. She was afraid to tackle Robotnik head on. Suddenly her communicator rang. She answered. "This isn't the best time!"

"Keep this line open!"

She gasped. "You?!"

Sonic dodged another kick, sending a quick glare to Robotnik. "You are SO DEAD, Robuttnik!"

"Oh my, I'm shaking in my boots," Robotnik laughed, when he suddenly screamed, a high-pitched noise coming out of nowhere. The remote exploded in his hand, and Manic regained control.

"I'm okay now!" he called out.

Sonic turned to Robotnik, glaring. "Good, now-HEY!"

Shadow grabbed Sonic, and chaos controlled out of the valley with the others.

By morning, the Sonic underground had returned to Sanctuary at Shadow's request. The presence of the children seemed to help Sonic to calm down. Both of them sat on a log, watching the pond water as Shadow put an arm around Sonic. "Hey...you okay now...?"

Sonic nodded as he leaned into Shadow. "Yea...I'm just...afraid...I been through so many changes...and this new one..."

"I know...but you're not doing this alone..." Shadow said, looking at Sonic. "You got me...and you got your family. As long as you have family...you'll never be alone."

Sonic sighed, looking out to watching the kids playing. "Shadow, its got to stop...the madness...Robotnik HAS to be stopped now...I cannot, will not see the next generation being raised as we, as these kids, have been."

Shadow nodded. "We will. It won't be much longer."

Sonic finally looked around. "Hey, where's Sonia anyway?"

Once she was sure she was alone, Sonia turned on her communicator. "Hello?"

"Sooonia! You called!"

She rolled her eyes. "Don't think this will be habit, Dingo. I just want you to tell Sleet I said...thanks...thanks for the assist."

"Uh..." Dingo blinked. "...wow...no one's ever thanked us before..."

"Yea, you kinda get it when you do GOOD things," Sonia said, rolling her eyes. "...why DID Sleet help us?"

"Ya see-"

"GIMME THAT!"

Sleet apparently grabbed the comm. and hung up without warning, leaving Sonia without an answer.

"Happy Boys & Girls" is performed by Aqua from the album Aquarium.


	10. Revelations

-1Running down a long corridor, Shadow ran. Pulling behind him, a human girl with pretty blonde hair and blue dress, did her best to keep up with Shadow as they ran. Far behind, the shadows of soldiers passed, showing that they were trying to catch up to the two fugitives, as they ran into the capsule room.

"Maria, we gotta get out of here! Why are we in here?"

Maria suddenly pulled away from Shadow, running to a console. "Shadow, you can't be here! You have too much to look forward to in the future!"

"Maria! What're you-"  
She suddenly hit a button, and a capsule closed over Shadow. Eyes widening, Shadow beat against the capsule glass. "MARIA!"

"Find your future on the planet...sayranora...Shadow..."

"Maria, DON'T!"

Suddenly, there was a gun blast, as Maria was suddenly shot in the chest as soldiers came in. She gasped for a moment, her hand slamming on a button.

Shadow's eyes widen in horror. "MARIA!! NOOO!!"

--

Sonic Underground CHAOS

Revelations

written by Sonic Remix

Sonic the Hedgehog and related characters and indicia © and ™ 1991-2008 SEGA - Sonic Team

--

Shadow gasped as he came to, feeling his shoulders being shook by Sonic as he woke up. "Shadow...shh...its alright!"

Shadow looked up sleepily at Sonic as he started to sit up, rubbing his head. "Ugh...what...what a nightmare."

"It must of been a bad one to phase you," Sonic pointed out, hugging Shadow to comfort him. "But you're back with us now..."

Shadow nodded a bit, agreeing. "Yea..." he hugged Sonic. "As long as you're with me, nothing else matters..."

Sonic pulled away after a moment, smirking. "Okay, enough with the mushy stuff. Its just as well that you woke up. We're nearly to Casinopolis."

Shadow blinked, rubbing his head as he looked at Sonic blankly, before it dawned on him. "OH! The concert, right! I nearly forgot..."

Sonic blinked, rubbing his back. "That nightmare must of did a number on your head. Come on, we can hit a restaurant before we go into the Casino, get you some coffee or something."

"...I don't drink coffee."

"...yea, me either."

As Shadow and Sonic started to get out, Sonic looked to his sister. "You guys head on to the Casino. Shadow and I are gonna get something to eat and drink, and to calm his nerves down," Sonic jerked his thumb to Shadow in indication.

Sonia nodded. "Right. See ya later..."

As Manic and Sonia took off, Sonic grasped Shadow's hand, pulling him down the street towards the burger shop. "MAN, I could go for a lot of chilidogs right about now."

Shadow smirked a bit. "Been eating a lot lately, haven't you?"

Sonic frowned, punching Shadow's arm. "I have an excuse. Two excuses, really. Damned parasite..."

Shadow rolled his eyes at the statement. "Not everyone can be so lucky as to have your 'parasite' as you call it."

"Don't you mean, 'not every GUY' is as lucky as I am?"

Shadow sighed, giving up. "FINE. I'll feed you and your...parasite."

"OUR parasite."

Shadow groaned loudly. But before he could protest, a strange occurrence happened. He felt a surge of chaos energy and groaned, holding his sides. Worried, Sonic put his arms on Shadow's shoulders. "Shadow??"

And in the blink of a chaos control, they were gone.

Shadow groaned, rubbing his head as he started to stand up. Why was it spinning...he felt Sonic support him as he tried to stand.

Knowing that Shadow was out of it, Sonic looked up, only to come face to face with...Robotnik?!

Manic and Sonia, meanwhile, oblivious to their brother's disappearance, arrived at Casinopolis, surprised to find a lot of police cars surrounding it. They came up to an officer, Sonia speaking. "What's going on, officer?"

"Eh, some crazy nut job's been running around the casino, climbing up walls and destroying property. We also have an issue with Dr. Robotnik being spotted in the area."

"Is there any way we can help?" Manic asked.

"As a matter of fact, there is..." a woman's voice behind them spoke. The two hedgehogs turned to face the one who spoke.

Before Sonic could tense up in rage at the sight of the old man, Shadow cut him off by gasping, stepping forward. "Professor Gerald!"

"Shadow, m'boy! The experiment worked!" The professor grinned kindly, excitement in the eyes that could be seen, even behind spectacles.

Sonic turned his head, confused. "Professor...Gerald?"

Shadow turned, looking between Sonic and Gerald. "Well, before I go asking the how, I'd better introduce Sonic the Hedgehog. Sonic, this is Professor Gerald Robotnik.

Needless to say, Sonic paled at the name. "Robotnik-"

Shadow cut him off. "I'll explain later." He looked towards the professor. "Professor, how is this possible? The last time I saw you was over 50 years ago!"

Gerald chuckled, not seeming to be the least bit surprised. "Age must of altered your memory. I'll have to do something about that. Remember the experiment of time travel using Chaos Energy? I had set the energy pattern in your body to serve as a beacon so I could pull you through time, even as time passes. The experiment worked; I was able to pull you into the present from 50 years into the future."

"Oh..." Shadow blinked before it dawned on him. "OH! The experiment!" He slapped himself. "I remember now! I'm sorry, Professor. So much has happened in 50 years, and you kind of tagged me at an...inconvenient time..."

"Yeeea, we were about to eat," Sonic pointed out, putting his hands on Shadow's shoulders. "So if you don't mind, I think we'll be wanting to go back to the future...if you don't mind..." Sonic emphasized the last part with extreme discomfort. Any relation to Robotnik was bad news, in his opinion.

Shadow nudged Sonic. "Sonic, don't be like that. The Professor is good.."

Gerald looked over Sonic in puzzlement. "I never meant to bring a passenger with Shadow. You must of been holding onto him when I pulled him back here. What purpose do you serve, to be with Shadow?"

Sonic blinked. "Purpose? Other than the fact-"

"Sonic-" Shadow suddenly cut him off. "Could you excuse us for a bit? I need to talk to the professor alone."

"What? Oh come on, Shadz-!"

"Please?"

Sonic blinked. When it came to Shadow actually going so far as to say please, it must of been important. He reluctantly agreed and slowly stepped out from the room.

Once they were alone, Shadow turned to the Professor, worried. "Sonic doesn't know anything about what I really am. He knows nothing of you, or Maria, or this place-"

Gerald stared at Sonic, in disbelief. "But how could he be so oblivious to such facts? Are you not here in 50 years time?"

Shadow closed his eyes. "...no...in 50 years time, I am down below, on the planet..."

His eyes soften at this fact. "So...you have somehow gained your freedom. GUN would not of so easily let you out of their sight...or onto the planet at all..."

Shadow shook his head. "Things got complicated...professor, you, or Maria, can't stay here! GUN, they-"

Gerald raised a finger, moving it. "Tut tut tut...Shadow, you know you can't unveil secrets of the future we're not supposed to know."

"Then what good is time traveling if you can't use it to prevent a disaster?!"

He sighed. "Shadow, you still have a lot to learn. Scientific knowledge isn't always about the uses...its about the strive to make the impossible possible. To unlock the secrets of the universe...to have that knowledge there! Surely you've witnessed miracles like this in science, especially with your own self?"

Shadow looked at him. "Sometimes...life can produce the same miracles...and after what I learned, not all miracles come from science.."

"And what is your reasoning behind that theory?"

Shadow looked to the door. "...Sonic..."

Sonic grumbled as he walked down the hall of the strange place. He didn't understand what was so secret that Shadow didn't want him to find out about.

As we walked down the hallway, he turned to stare out an observation window.

And gaped.

What he was the vastness of space, and the large, round orb of Mobius below.

"No way-" Sonic whispered. "We're in space?"

Sonic looked back down the hallway. Why would Shadow be out here in space.

It also dawned on him that Shadow and the professor were talking about a 50 year gap.

It took all of three seconds for Sonic to add up Shadow's age.

Shadow...his beau...it had to make him at least 68 years old, if not older!

What else was Shadow hiding about himself? Sonic had to know. Was Shadow...was Shadow afraid of being rejected by Sonic if he found out secrets of his past. The age factor was certainly a clue supporting that theory.

But Sonic didn't care about that. He loved Shadow and no one else. With that in mind, he braced himself to find out Shadow's secret origins, and then let Shadow know that everything was going to be alright.

With that, he rounded a corner, headed down the hall and using his speed to sneak into rooms without the other scientists catching him. And there were a LOT of scientists.

Well, it was a space station, guess there would be.

As he headed down the hall, he heard screaming from down the hall. Was someone in trouble?! Sonic ran down the hall quickly, wondering why the scientists were so oblivious to the screams. Didn't they even care?!

Sonic rounded a corner and stopped short, seeing a large room.

Some black and red...MONSTER...was looking over a tube.

Sonic's eyes widen horror.

Trapped within the tube, was Shadow, writing in pain as tubes were injected into his body.

Sonic started to open his mouth in a cry of anger, when a hand clasped over Sonic's mouth, pulling from the room as quickly as he had ran in.

Pulling him into another room. Sonic was let go as he head the one who pulled him out hissed. "Shh..."

He turned around, glaring at a girl with blonde hair in a blue dress. "What was that for?!"

"Shh, calm down. You don't want Black Doom to see you in there!" she whispered.

"Black Doom? The monster? I could take him out in a Sonic second! He's hurting Shadow!"

She laid a hand on his shoulder to stop him. "I want to help Shadow too, but Black Doom is too powerful. As much as it pains me to see Shadow like that, he has to be worked on...grandfather says Shadow has so many flaws still.."

Sonic blinked. "Flaws? Shadow?"

She bit her lip. "Forgive me, I must be confusing you. My name is Maria. I saw you appear with Shadow in the room earlier. You're both from the future."

"Well yes, but-"

"The Shadow you just saw is from this time. Here, he's still being worked on."

"Worked o- you're talking about him like he's a robot!"

She shook her head. "No, he's not a robot. He's flesh and blood, like you and me."

Sonic frowned, confused again. "Then why is that monster...err...working on him?"

More like torturing him.

Maria frowned. "Black Doom is trying to perfect Shadow so he'll have no problems." She closed her eyes. "Why did grandfather have to make such a deal with that devil?"

"I don't get it though...what are you talking about?"

She looked at him. "Black Doom had offered to help grandfather create Shadow..."

Sonic stared. "...'create'? I thought you said he wasn't a robot!"

"He's not..." Maria shook her head. "Didn't Shadow tell you? Grandfather created him, trying to make the ultimate life form."

Sonic stared. "The...your grandfather just...made Shadow? A life form?"

She nodded. "Its the miracle of science he worked on...he wanted to research immortality...to avoid age and death, sickness...but without Black Doom or his alien blood, the experiment was nearly a failure."

"So...wait...you're telling me...that your grandfather, created Shadow, a life form, by using the blood of an alien monster, and...I guess he made a hedgehog?"

Maria nodded. "Grandfather used hedgehog DNA to combine." She looked distant as she remembered. "I watched Shadow grow from a tiny seed into what he is now...he's my best friend."

Sonic blinked. "That's odd...Shadow never talks about you."

She blinked in surprise. "What? But why?"

"You'll have to ask him yourself. We'd better get back. Can you lead me back to the room? I feel a little lost."

Maria nodded and took Sonic's hand, leading him down the hall.

They came back into the room, noting that only Gerald was there. He looked at Sonic and grinned, walking to shake his hand. "Congratulations, m'boy. Shadow told me all about you. I am only glad that Shadow finally found someone that could make him as happy as he's made my little Maria here."

Sonic blinked but nodded. "Uh...thanks...I guess..."

He pat Sonic's back. "Shadow is like a son to me...so I would like to consider you as family as well..."

Sonic blinked in surprise as he turned to work on the device that brought Shadow and Sonic to the past to begin with. "So Shadow's been telling me that my grandson Ivo's been a naughty boy in the future. At least you and Shadow been keeping him in his place."

He rolled his eyes. "It bothers me that any kin of mine would use science towards greed and evil like that. I'd sooner disown him than to be related to someone like that..."

He turned to Sonic. "I can see why you're so uneasy about me now. I only hope that your opinion of my family can change..."

Sonic sighed. "I suppose that, as future king of Mobius,. I need to learn to deal with my own prejudice towards others. How can I make fair decisions if that prejudice haunts me?"

He finally offered his hand. "I don't know much about Shadow. But I have a long time to get to know him better, especially since I'm going to be spending the rest of my life with him. But since this is as close to 'meet the parents' as I'm gonna get...I'm...I'm glad to have met you."

Gerald shook his hand. "Sonic, there is one thing I wanted to discuss to you about. I thought about what Shadow told me earlier. He said he had to do something before I send both of you back. But there IS a reason I chose to pull Shadow from the future to here. A warning."

"A warning?"

He nodded. "Shadow's other...creator...Black Doom...he plans to use Shadow in 50 years time to take over your world. Beware of the Black Comet."

He looked grim. "The Black Comet is the harbinger of death, and I won't let you or him, or anyone else...get hurt because of my mistake."

Sonic's eyes widen. "Maria said you made a deal with Black Doom to create Shadow...in exchange...to take over Mobius."

He nodded. "Yes...but...I wanted Shadow to make sure he knew what was going on...so he'll be able to stop Black Doom when he and the Black Arms return to Mobius in the future."

Sonic folded his arms and nodded. "We'll stop him. I promise."

Shadow came back in, pausing to stop and stare at Maria. "MARIA!"

"Shadow!" She smiled, running to hug Shadow. Shadow hugged back tightly.

"Oh I missed you!"

Maria looked at him. "I'm only sorry we have to cut this reunion so short before you have to go back..."

Shadow frowned. "Well...hopefully everything will be alright in the future."

Sonic nodded, putting a hand on his shoulder. "It will be..."

Gerald finally looked at them. "Are you two ready to be sent back?"

Shadow finally nodded, pulling Sonic close. "It was good seeing you both again."

Maria waved. "Goodbye Shadow!"

As Sonic and Shadow disappeared from sight after Gerald turned on the device, Maria blinked, feeling something in her pocket. "What's this?"

Sonic and Shadow arrived back in Station Square of their time. Sonic looked around. "Are we in the right time?"

Shadow looked around for a moment, taking note of a marquee of the nearby bank as it scrolled the time and date. "We're back alright. Only a few hours since we left!"

Sonic turned his head, noticing the time. "Whoa, Shadow! The concert starts in a few minutes! We gotta get back!"

Shadow barely had time to blink as Sonic grabbed his hand and pulled him off in the direction of the Casino.

Sonia and Manic were standing backstage, waiting, when Sonic and Shadow arrived. "We made it, sibs!"

"Its about time!" Sonia scolded. "You may have all the time in the world, but some of us were dealing with problems while you were stuffing your mouth with chilidogs!"

Sonic's stomach suddenly groaned at the reminder that he never got to eat before he looked at Sonia, noticing something. "Sonia, where's your medallion?"

Sonia folded her arms in a huff. "One of Robotnik's goons stole it."

Sonic pat her shoulder. "We'll get it back. But what're we gonna do about the concert?"

Manic grinned. "Oh no worries about that, dude. The manager got Sonia a keyboard to play on, just like they provided my drums!"

Sonic frowned at the reminder that Manic's medallion was also stolen. "We'll discuss this later. Let's do this!"

The Sonic Underground ran onstage, fans cheering. Sonic touched his medallion, making his guitar appear. "ARE YOU READY To ROCK?!"

_Finished looking for the answers  
Now I'm looking for the questions  
I can look into you mirror and see inside your head  
See my reflections and this is what I've bled  
I look right into your mirror but I can't see me_

Everything's gone backwards  
Nothing's what it seems  
I awake from my nightmares  
Smash the mirror, smash the dreams

Backwards into future  
Now you're making up for lost time  
I hide under the shadow and try to hide my name  
Eyes that will question and this is what I mean  
I look back into the mirror  
But still don't see me

Everything's gone backwards  
Nothing's what it seems  
I awake from my nightmares  
Smash the mirror, smash the dreams

_Everything's gone backwards  
Nothing's what it seems  
I awake from my nightmares  
Smash the mirror, smash the dreams_

Smash the mirror, smash the dreams

_Smash the mirror, smash the dreams _

_Smash the mirror, smash the dreams_

Everything's gone backwards  
Nothing's what it seems  
I awake from my nightmares  
Smash the mirror, smash the dreams

_Everything's gone backwards  
Nothing's what it seems  
I awake from my nightmares  
Smash the mirror, smash the dreams_

Smash the mirror, smash the dreams

_Smash the mirror, smash the dreams _

_Smash the mirror, smash the dreams _

After the concert, Sonic and Shadow were headed into the main casino room to meet with the fans. Shadow, as always, stood by Sonic's side in support. Sonic finally looked to him as they walked. "Shadow, how come you never talked about Maria? She said that you and her were best friends."

Shadow sighed as he looked down, following Sonic. "Maria...was shot trying to help me escape from the ARK. GUN, they caught word of what Gerald was doing and went to shut it down. A number of...black and red...creatures...were infesting the ARK, and they considered me to be one of them, so they tried to capture me. Eventually, they did catch me on the planet, and when they couldn't kill me...they locked me in cryostatius...50 years later, Robotnik found me from reading the Professor's journals..."

Sonic suddenly stopped and held Shadow. Tightly. "Shadow...I'm...I'm sorry..."

Shadow suddenly gripped Sonic, letting a few tears fall. "It's not fair! She was only a little girl! She never hurt anything in her life! She didn't deserve to die!"

Sonic stroked Shadow's back, soothing him. "Shadow...I...I understand why you try to protect me now...I had no idea you had such a horrible past..."

"I'm not real," Shadow murmured. "I was created, not born..."

Sonic held Shadow upright and held him firmly by the shoulders, looking him straight in the eyes. "You are Shadow, the hedgehog I fell in love with. Nothing in the past can change our future. I LOVE you. Nothing can change that."

At that moment, Manic ran up to them, grinning. "Hey guys, I hate to disrupt, but the manager said she wanted to meet you."

Blinking, both Sonic and Shadow looked up.

And gaped.

The elderly woman, though long hair sporting a grey tone to once blonde hair, smiled with the same charm of the sparkling blue eyes as she looked at them. "Hello Sonic...Shadow...its been a long time..."

Sonic had to actually catch Shadow as his knees gave out on him. Unlike before, when the reunion reaction was rather suppressed, all emotion flooded into Shadow and overwhelmed him at the sight of seeing his long-lost friend. "M...Maria!"

She smiled sweetly, holding an old note that yellowed with age. "I got your note."

Shadow had trouble finding his voice. "B...but I saw you get shot-!"

She smiled sweetly. "I'm sorry you had to see that...grandfather had to make sure that the past was left unaltered...at least in your mind...we didn't want to affect your meeting with Sonic. But what you believed me getting shot...I wore a vest under my dress to protect my body. And though he couldn't live long enough to see you two get together...he made sure I would live a long healthy life..."

Shadow suddenly hugged her. "Maria..."

She hugged him in return. "Shadow, I told that information that you said you were in Casinopolis on this date for a concert and used it to take a job here just so I could meet back up with you...I knew this was the safest date to meet with you so that time is not affected."

As this reunion was going on, Sonia approached Manic, who was watching this scene unfold with confusion. "Manic, what's going on?"

"Sis, do we ever know what those two are doing?"

"Backwards" is performed by Apartment 26 from the Mission Impossible 2 soundtrack.


	11. Riff Raff

-1Through the streets of Robotropolis, an orange hedgehog ran, the sounds of sirens behind him as SWATbot patrols pursued. Dodging into an alley, he panted as the patrols blasted by the small alley. One patrol stopped to peek down the alley, only to see nothing whatsoever. If the patrol had stayed longer to investigate, they would of caught the manhole closing shut.

--

Sonic Underground CHAOS

Riff Raff

written by Sonic Remix

Sonic the Hedgehog and related characters and indicia © and ™ 1991-2008 SEGA - Sonic Team

--

Manic the Hedgehog had been out, visiting with Rouge for a while, and had just come back in the door to the safe house. Just as he sat on the couch to relax, Sonia came in, looking furious.

"Whoa, sis! You okay?" Manic asked.

"Where have you BEEN?!" she growled.

Manic blinked. "I was hanging with Rouge, why?"

She folded her arms. "I just found out one of my friends was robbed...they said they saw the shadow of a hedgehog leaving the scene."

Manic coughed. "A hedgehog. Sonia, there could be a LOT of hedgehog thieves."

"Yea, and the robbery just HAPPENED to occur while you were out?"

"I'm telling you, I didn't do it!" Manic glared, standing up.

"Hey, what's with the shouting??" An irritated Sonic and Shadow came down the stairs, quills a bit frazzled.

"Sonia's accusing me of stealing things again!" Manic complained. "I can't believe you don't trust me, Sonia! We're family!"

"Hey, for all we know, Robotnik could be trying to control you again. Its hard to tell with you anymore."

Sonic finally stepped between the two. "Hey, stow it! Lets just go out there together and find the real thief!"

The van rolled down the streets of Robotropolis. In the back, Sonia and Manic sat on opposite sides, not speaking to one another. Up front, Sonic was driving while Shadow sat in the passenger's seat, rubbing his head. "I don't get it. I feel like your family's feeling more divided than before. Am I missing something?"

Sonic frowned as he drove. "I didn't want to say anything, but Sonia and Manic are at odds and ends with one another over beliefs."

"What beliefs?"

He sighed. "Our relationship."

Shadow looked at Sonic, concerned. "How much do they know?"

"They know we're in love with each other, that's all. Manic supports us. Sonia...doesn't."

Shadow blinked. "But...why?"

Sonic sighed, turning around a corner. "She's been raised to believe that such a relationship is unnatural and can only bring nothing but trouble. Sonia confronted me about it one night while you were helping Tails down at the base; especially after how protective you were being over me. Manic got upset and defended our relationship...things have been sour since that night."

"That worries me...what's gonna happen when-"

Sonic cut him off. "I don't know, Shadow...Coronation Day is still a few weeks away. I think she's more afraid that you're somehow gonna turn on us...she hasn't exactly gotten over the first encounter."

Shadow sighed. "Think I should talk to her?"

"Not now...no..." Sonic shook his head, before he suddenly braked, short of an intersection. Robotnik's Egg Mobile raced down the side street, passing the van without seeing them, followed by patrol sirens.

"Whoa, wherever Eggman's headed, its gotta be big!" Sonic breathed.

"Maybe they heard of the theft and think its Manic too!" Shadow pointed out.

Sonic nodded and turned down another side street. "Then let's see if we can get there before they do!"

Robotnik looked around as he raced down the street, grinning. "I have you this time...hedgehog..."

The van rolled to a stop in an alley, and Manic walked to the front. "Bro, let me out here. I can talk to one of the guild members and see who could be stealing from the aristocrats."

Sonic nodded. "Okay bro. Meet up at the park later."

In another alley, one of Robotnik's spy orbs floated through, observing the area for any signs of any hedgehog activity.

It found some...just not what it expected as the orange hedgehog threw a rock at it, smashing the lens.

Manic heard the sound of crashing and sirens and ran off to investigate. Rounding the corner, he slammed into the orange hedgehog, falling back. The hedgehog growled. "Watch where you're going!"

Manic shook his head and looked up at the hedgehog, who looked back at Manic. "...Riff Raff?"

"Manic! I didn't recognize you!" The hedgehog grinned, helping Manic to his feet. "Looks like Robotnik got to you." He gestured to Manic's metallic parts.

"Yea, long story. What's going on?"

"Tell you later, just run!" Riff Raff said, grabbing Manic's hand and pulling him towards a sewer grate, just as SWATbot patrols rounded the corner.

Sonia had her arms folded as she followed Sonic and Shadow through the streets. "This is just perfect. Manic's run off to do who knows what, and I'm stuck following the two of you."

Sonic finally whipped around to face Sonia, glaring. "Sonia, I'm getting sick of this prejudice attitude of yours towards the rest of us. Now, I been tolerant of the guys you always fall head-over-heels for at first glance. BUT-"

He approached her, facing her face to face. She started to say something, but Sonic continued. "Loyalty is another question completely. Love...true love...its not about how a person looks, how much money have, or even what species or gender they are..."

He poked his own chest. "Its what you feel here, that counts. Shadow and I...we have so much more in common, than I could EVER have with ANYone. It is why he is my beau."

"But what about our family reputation? Do you honestly think Mother and Father would approve of you being...being-"

"YES," Sonic replied icily. "They would and they do."

"They...they do?"

"Even if they didn't, I don't need their approval to know who I love. Its just nice to have a family that DOES support my decision."

Sonic sighed, taking Shadow's arm. "Come on, Shadow, let's go for a walk."

Riff Raff pushed open the grate, stepping back out into another alleyway of the city, Manic following behind him. "Dude, you're the one behind the thefts in the city, aren't you?"

Riff Raff rolled his eyes as they walked through the alley. "So I stole from some snotty aristocrats. Its nothing we didn't do in the old days."

"Can I remind you that Fiona wasn't exactly approving of anything we did back then either?" Manic pointed out. "If it hadn't be for other issues, she probably would of left us eventually because of that."

"And what about Rouge? Last I heard, she was a professional jewel thief," Riff Raff countered.

"I heard that was just a cover, that she's really a spy," Manic said, none too quick to tell Riff Raff that Rouge was working for the king.

"What? Our Rouge? Espionage? Get real," Riff Raff laughed.

Sonic and Shadow arrived at the park where they were gonna meet Manic at and sat down, looking around.

"Well...we do have some moments alone..." Sonic pointed out.

Shadow smiled at this. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

The two leaned in and embraced each other, and began to kiss one another softly.

"So I'm in a band now," Manic spoke as they walked down the street, headed for the park. "Best drummer there is."

Riff Raff laughed. "You always were able to beat sticks with rhythm. How about a song then, Mr. Drummer?"

Manic grinned at that.

_Longing for silence...  
"Always faster" is the way that we go.  
Not a little patience...  
Higher, farer, better we grow.  
The beast is rising, it's tantalizing  
those who are taking the time.  
Alienation... A revelation...  
Straight to the end of the line..._

The cold chill you feel  
is no dream it's for real  
we don't follow

Fly! Riding away... Rising today...  
No we don't play your headless game!  
We are alive, don't say goodbye.  
Fly! Riding away... Rising today...  
No we don't play your headless game!  
We are alive, don't say goodbye.

Cast out from Eden...  
You don't like what we are in your eyes.  
We're leading the treason on the race you run,  
the way of your life.

I am danger, I'm a stranger  
cause I don't give in to your call.  
And not until she is satisfied  
we can come and explode and we fall!!

We're blowing the flame of your headless game:  
We don't follow!

Fly! Riding away... Rising today...  
No we don't play your headless game!  
We are alive, don't say goodbye.  
Fly! Riding away... Rising today...  
No we don't play your headless game!  
We are alive, don't say goodbye.

Longing for silence...  
"Always faster" is the way that we go.  
Not a little patience...  
Higher, farer, better we grow

Fly! Riding away... Rising today...  
No we don't play your headless game!  
We are alive, don't say goodbye.  
Fly! Riding away... Rising today...  
No we don't play your headless game!  
We are alive, don't say goodbye.

(...In their eyes we are insane! But aren't daydreamers only the escapists of  
a soulless view of life?...)

Entering the park, Manic began looking around for his siblings. Riff Raff looked around, before spotting a couple of hedgehogs ahead. Male hedgehogs, kissing. Smirking, he leaned over a grabbed a rock. "Hey Manic, check this out."

"Huh?" Manic turned his head in time to see Riff Raff throwing the stone and hitting Sonic in the back of the head.

"ARGH!" Sonic yelped, falling off the bench from the impact, holding his head.

Shadow fell over to Sonic's side, more concerned for his love at the moment. "SONIC!"

Riff Raff laughed, drawing the attention of both hedgehogs. "Burn in hell, faggots!"

It shocked the hell out of Riff Raff when he was suddenly lifted off the ground and thrown into a tree. By Manic. He had used his mechanical strength to throw the orange hedgehog hard enough to bust his mouth.

Spitting blood, Riff Raff glared at Manic as he stood up. "What...what was that for?!"

"That was my brother, you asshole!"

Riff Raff continued to glare at him. "You...you don't have a brother, remember? Farrell raised both of us..."

"Yea well things change and I will NOT have you harming my family, EVER. I don't care HOW close friends we were. That discriminary behavior I will NOT tolerate from you!"

Riff Raff started to reply when all of the state televisions began to flicker on in the city. Robotnik's ugly mug was pasted on it.

"Citizens of Robotropolis! A victory today has come, as a major head of the Resistance has been captured. I have the former king Jules in my grasp, at long last!"

Jules stood there, arms folded as he glared at Robotnik through the bars of his cell. "You may of used that chaos neutralizer you got from Dark Fiona to suppress my powers, but you will NOT win this, Julian!"

"Big words from such a...small hedgehog. Coronation Day is a few weeks away, and you have no claims to the throne! I have the King's Box, I have the power!"

"Do you?" Jules folded his arms and smirked.

Robotnik growled and slammed his arms against the bars. "You're as arrogant as that blue rat of a son of yours!"

"Like father, like son."

"We'll see who's laughing when I have all of your kids joining you in the Robotisizer!"

"Remind me again, why we're letting HIM go with us?" Sonic grumbled, rubbing the back of his head as he tracked through the sewers under the citadel, following Manic and Riff Raff with Shadow.

"Are you kidding? There's bound to be vast rewards and riches for rescuing the KING of all people!" Riff Raff grinned, rubbing his hands together. "I'll be living it good for a long time!"

"Can I remind you that he's in exile along with Queen Aleena?" Shadow pointed out.

"Puh-lease. Everyone in Robotropolis heard the King's threat. He's gonna come back, big time."

Sonic and Shadow looked at each other while Manic grumbled. "Dude, its about the deed, not the rewards."

"Pfft. Please...not that ol virtue garbage."

"I'm sorry, why did you hang out with him again, Manic?" Sonic asked.

Suddenly SWATbots appeared out of nowhere, lasers aimed at the group. Riff Raff's eyes widened in fear and he backed up. "That's a lot of SWATbots...I didn't ask for this! You guys are on your own!"

Riff Raff suddenly stumbled and fell back before taking off in the other direction, while some SWATbots tried to shoot at him.

"RIFF RAFF, WAIT!" Manic yelled towards him.

Sonic grabbed Manic. "Forget him, Manic, we got other problems!"

Shadow looked around suddenly, moving closer to Sonic. "Sonic, the air-"

Suddenly Sonic and Shadow were backhanded by Manic's metal hand before he took off running down the sewer towards the entrance of the citadel.

"MANIC!" Sonic yelled and tried to chase him, but Shadow grabbed him. "SONIC, we can't fight them like this! Robotnik's controlling Manic and he has a chaos neutralizer! We have to find another way, come on!"

Shadow began to pull Sonic back as guards started shooting. "RUN!"

Sonic did run from the sewer out into the open with Shadow. but the moment he caught up with the coward Riff Raff, Sonic took aim for the orange hedgehog and body slammed into him.

"HEY!" Riff Raff growled. "Get offa me, ya freak!"

"SHUT UP!" Sonic backhanded him angrily. "You abandoned Manic and now the bots got him captured! He trusted you!"

"You expect me to risk my neck over this?! Why should I?"

Sonic glared daggers into his face. "-because Manic would risk his life to save yours."

Sonia crawled through the duct ways by herself, headed for the cellblock. She spotted a few shadows lurking through the hallways as he slowly opened the grate, silently dropping into the cellblock. She started to sneak up on the shadows to give them a good head kick when a flashlight shone on her, blinking her. She heard a voice. "Sonia, that you?"

She recognized the voice, looking up at Sonic, along with Shadow and Riff Raff. "Sonic? Who's the cute guy, and where's Manic?"

"Introductions later. Robotnik's got control of Manic AND he has one of Dark Fiona's chaos neutralizers."

Shadow looked in the cell they were near. "Well, the king's not in here. Robotnik must be taking him to the Robotisizer right now!"

"We gotta hurry then!" Sonic growled.

Robotnik was chuckling while Manic was forced to stand near the Robotisizer, watching as Jules beat against the tube, trying to get out. Manic reached out with a flesh hand, just trying to reach out for the tube, fear in his eyes.

Jules glared at Robotnik. "Last warning, Julian! You have NO idea who you're messing with!"

"You are in no position to make threats...your highness!"

"AAARGH!!"

Robotnik had NO idea what hit him until a ball of blue tackled the large round man, and was being pummeled mercilessly.

All the rage that built up in Sonic had pushed him over the edge as he viciously attacked Robotnik. For once, Shadow was glad that the chaos neutralizer was not allowing Sonic to absorb any chaos energy in the area, or they WOULD be in trouble. He ran to try and help Jules out of the tube.

But it was Riff Raff who bolted for the Robotisizer controls and stopped them before the startup sequence could finish.

Sonia looked around the room, looking for another control panel and smashing it. Manic was suddenly able to move, smashing his metal fish at against the tube and smashing it open. "GOT HIM!"

Shadow suddenly ran to Sonic and pulled him off Robotnik with strong arms, leaving Sonic struggling in Shadow's arms, while Robotnik laid there, half beaten by the angry blue hedgehog. "Let's get out of here!"

Glazed green eyes stared off in the distance at nothing in particular, shivering violently as he sat on his knees near the van. Shadow grabbed a blanket to wrap around the shivering form. "Sonic...?"

"Shadow..." he looked up at the hedgehog, for the first time looking absolutely terrified. More so than nearly drowning. "There was something...something in me that didn't feel right...and...and..."

"Easy...easy Sonic-"

Sonic closed his eyes and bowed his head again. "War...I saw...bloody battles of things I never seen before...places that didn't even look like Mobius...black and red...blue and white...colors battling one another...strange creatures..."

Shadow steadying Sonic by the shoulders, as he had started to rock back and forth badly. "When I became angry with Robotnik...everything that he done just hit me...every time I hit him, I saw more and more things that he did...I wanted to hurt him...I wanted to destroy him...like the black and red...and the blue and white..."

"Sonic...Sonic you're not making sense...what're you talking about?"

"Creatures...they...they're not Mobian..." He opened his eyes and looked at Shadow again. "For..a brief second...I thought I saw Black Doom..."

Shadow's eyes widen. "...how...how do you know of Black Doom?"

"Back on the space station, when I was exploring...I saw him...he was...torturing you..."

Shadow bowed his head. "You saw that, huh?"

"Shadow...there's something going on here...its bigger than us...any of us...even bigger...than what's happening in this war against Robotnik..."

While Sonic and Shadow were talking, Riff Raff watched the scene unfold before turning to walk away. He felt ashamed of his actions.

A hand rested on his shoulder. "Hey Riff Raff..."

He turned to face manic and Jules. He stood rock still. Manic smiled. "I'd like to introduce you to the king, man." He looked to Jules. "Riff Raff here is an up and coming freedom fighter who helped us out when he didn't have to..."

Jules smiled and offered his hand. "Good to meet you then!"

Riff Raff stared at the hand before looking away. "Thanks for trying to help, manic. But its not the truth. I'm a coward, a thief, who doesn't deserve any friends or friendship."

As Riff Raff turned away, Jules rested his hand on Riff Raff's shoulder. "Manic told me what happened. You had the courage to come back when you didn't have to. To me, that's a step forward. What you need is a little guidance."

"Huh?" Riff Raff looked at him. "What do you mean?"

"I mean I'm offering you a job, to work with Rouge. We could use someone of your skills to help with the resistance!"

Riff Raff blinked now. "What? Me? Really?"

Manic grinned and patted Riff Raff's back. "Congratulations, bud. You can do it!"

Riff Raff finally smiled. "Okay...okay! I'll do it!"

Standing near the city limits, Jules was helping Riff Raff adjust his camping backpack while Sonia and Manic stood near to see them off. "That should just about do it!" he looked to Sonia and Manic. "We'll be down in the Mystic Forest doing more research of what Robotnik's doing out there. Where's Sonic and Shadow?"

Manic looked back towards the city. "Stargazing. Sonic's really been spaced out since the rescue."

Jules frowned. "He'll be okay, hopefully. Well...send him my love!"

"Will do, Pa!" Manic smiled and he and Sonia hugged Jules.

Riff Raff gaped. "Wait a sec...he's your dad?!"

In the back alley, Sonic and Shadow relaxed on the old mattress, gazing up at the stars as Shadow held him close. Sonic finally spoke after a bit.

"I remember a long time ago, when Mobian explorers met humans for the first time...humans mistook Mobians for animal gods."

Shadow looked at Sonic strangely. "Where'd that come from?"

Sonic sighed, looking up to the stars. "I'm asking if the gods...are really gods at all..."

"The Headless Game" is performed by Edguy.


	12. Conspiracy

-1Sonic, Shadow, and Jules stared up at the cliffside they stood before, gazing at the open cave that was carved into the side.

"This wasn't here in the Mystic Ruins before," Jules said, looking to Sonic. "I discovered it a few days ago when I was taking Riff Raff through here. He's back at the house for now."

Sonic looked to his father. "So you wanna have us check it out with you?"

Jules nodded. "I figured that if anything happened, you two can get us out of there in an instant. I don't want to put Riff Raff in any unnecessary danger."

Shadow nodded silently before climbing up into the cave, helping Sonic and Jules in. Sonic shivered and pressed close to Shadow. "Its cold in here!

Jules rubbed his arms. "It is freezing, but how is that possible. Its near 90 degrees outside!"

Turning around a corner, they entered an ice cave, with a ladder at the end of the cave.

"That's how," Shadow said.

--

Sonic Underground CHAOS

Conspiracy

written by Sonic Remix

Sonic the Hedgehog and related characters and indicia © and ™ 1991-2008 SEGA - Sonic Team

--

Tails sat in the lab, alone, working on another part for the machine he had been putting together, when he received a knock on the door. A red male cat entered the room. "Miles Prower?"

The two-tailed fox looked up at him. "Yes sir?"

He approached Tails. "I'm with the Resistance Intelligence. I need you to answer a few questions for me."

"Uh...sure?" Tails went to sit down on a table. "What do you need to know?"

"I understand you were living with King Jules for a while. Can you tell me more about what he's like when you're around him?"

Tails thought back for a bit. "Well, I remember when I first met the Sonic Underground. We were fighting against Sleet and Dingo at the time..."

_Outside, Sleet had shifted Dingo into a megaphone and was yelling at them. "Surrender, hedgehogs! We have you surrounded. You can't take us all on this time, even with your weapons and power!"  
Suddenly the ground began to shake, and ground began to part in several areas. Two very large turrets rose up, before guns pointed at them. Sleet swallowed before Jules poked his head out from out a turret window. "Mr. Sleet, you should know by now that I am the LAST person you wanna face off. I'd advise that you, your shape-shifting lapdog, and the walking trashcan vacate the premises now, or I'll slag ya, just like the last time we fought."_

Tails shrugged. "That's the only real eventful thing I can think of. Other than that, we went on secret missions I can't really talk about.."

The cat nodded, making notes. "I see..."

Climbing up the ladder, Sonic, Shadow, and Jules appeared on the surface of a snowy mountainside.

"Snow? In the tropics? How is that possible?" Shadow asked, looking around and holding Sonic close.

Jules looked around with wide eyes. "What...what if we found the fabled Angel Island?"

Sonic looked at Jules sharply. "What? Why would you say that?"

"Angel Island is said to have a variety of environments. Snow would be possible here..." He looked around, pointing towards the top of the hill. "Let's see what we can see from the top of the mountain."

Sonic bit his lower lip as they walked. Something about this place didn't feel right...

Primping in front of a mirror, Sonia was getting ready to go out when she had a communication on the video screen. She answered it and the face of the red cat appeared. "Hello?"

"Princess Sonia? I'm from the Resistance Intelligence. I need to ask you a few questions about your father. Could you tell me a little bit about what its like to be around him?"

Sonic had to stop and think about the question. "Well..."

_Traveling through the forest, Jules admitted to wanting to make a pit stop, wanting to check up on something. What they encountered was a hidden lagoon, with tiny blue creatures waddling about. Sonia was in immediate awe. "Oh they're so ADORABLE!"  
Jules smiled a bit. "This is the secret garden of the chao."_

_Ali looked to one that was sitting at her feet and picked it up. "Jules, they're so cute!"  
"I been taking care of them every now and again."_

_Ali looked at Jules in surprise. "Jules...I-"  
Manic pointed to one in a tree. "Look out, its gonna fall!"_

_"I'll catch it!" Sonic grinned, ready to bound off._

_-when a blue blur speeded him, and Jules caught the chao midair._

_Sonic's jaw dropped as Jules came back with a smirk, holding the chao. "You were saying?"  
Ali merely held her forehead to her hand, groaning as the other hedgehogs gaped at him. Jules handed the chao to Sonia. "They say the chao are the children of Chaos...a great and powerful god that protected them and the Seven Chaos and the Controller."  
Sonic blinked. "The Seven Chaos? What's that?"  
Jules smiled. "Fortune and glory, kid. They say its power can perform miracles." He sighed, looking out. "In fact, its said that they were jewels that powerful warriors were after. In the process, many of the chao were hurt or killed, angering the god Chaos. In his rage, he nearly destroyed the world, but a princess sealed him in the Controller. They say that the Controller is in a place called Angel Island, but no one's been able to find it."_

"The story sounded familiar, but I couldn't place exactly where he was talking about," Sonia admitted.

Sonic, Shadow and Jules wandered into a cave in the side of the mountain, looking around. The cavern was tall, when what looked like a cave opening near the top. Jules pointed. "If we can get up there, we can get a good view of the island."

Shadow held Sonic close as the blue hedgehog shivered, looking around. Shadow finally stopped, ears twitching. Sonic looked up to him. "Shadow?"

"There's a chaos emerald in the area..."

The cat looked over his notes before looking back up to the video screen at Sonia. "What do you know about Shadow the Hedgehog?"

Sonia scowled at the mention. "He's up to no good, I can tell you that!"

_Sonia had her arms folded as she followed Sonic and Shadow through the streets. "This is just perfect. Manic's run off to do who knows what, and I'm stuck following the two of you."_

_Sonic finally whipped around to face Sonia, glaring. "Sonia, I'm getting sick of this prejudice attitude of yours towards the rest of us. Now, I been tolerant of the guys you always fall head-over-heels for at first glance. BUT-"_

_He approached her, facing her face to face. She started to say something, but Sonic continued. "Loyalty is another question completely. Love...true love...its not about how a person looks, how much money have, or even what species or gender they are..."_

_He poked his own chest. "Its what you feel here, that counts. Shadow and I...we have so much more in common, than I could EVER have with ANYone. It is why he is my beau."_

_"But what about our family reputation? Do you honestly think Mother and Father would approve of you being...being-"_

_"YES," Sonic replied icily. "They would and they do."_

_"They...they do?"_

_"Even if they didn't, I don't need their approval to know who I love. Its just nice to have a family that DOES support my decision."_

_Sonic sighed, taking Shadow's arm. "Come on, Shadow, let's go for a walk."_

Sonia folded her arms at the recent reminder. "He corrupted my brother, I know it..."

Sonic struggled as he climbed along the icy cave wall, panting hard before Shadow and Jules, standing atop the ledge, turned and helped Sonic up. Shadow fell back with Sonic in his arms, as Jules looked to them. "Sonic, are you okay? You seem to have problems keeping up a lot when its not running. Are you having problems?"

Shadow and Sonic looked to one another before looking back to Jules. Shadow finally spoke. "I had to take Sonic to the doctor's about a month and a half ago..."

Manic the hedgehog sat in Tails' lab, with the little fox looking over Manic's metallic limbs, when that same cat came in. "Prince Manic?"

Tails tugged at Manic's vest and whispered in his ear. "Its him, the guy who's been asking questions!"

Manic nodded and looked to the cat. "Lemme guess, Resistance Intel."

He nodded. "Just need to ask you a few questions."

"Such as?"

He looked over his notes. "Have you noticed any suspicious behavior over the one known as Shadow? Perhaps you can explain the recent doctor's visit your brother had that's been deemed confidential?"

Manic blinked. "I thought that was the right between a patient and doctor. Why should I tell you anything?"

"Its a matter of security, sir. I'm asking you to cooperate with us."

Manic sighed. "FINE. I don't know anything on the doctor's visit, but I do remember Sonic and Shadow acting strangely when they got back from it..."

_Back at the safe house, Manic and Sonia stood to one side, watching in bewilderment as Sonic and Shadow went after each other verbally, their voices getting louder with each exchange._

_"Sonic, I told you to stay put! I can't risk putting you in danger!"_

_"I get into danger all the time! You can't tell me what I can and can't do!"_

_"Sonic, this isn't JUST about you anymore!"_

_Sonic rolled his eyes. "Oh yes yes, right, the STUPID doctor's visit!"_

_Shadow groaned, putting his head to his hand. "The doctor warned me about this…"_

_Sonic sighed. "You know what, let's just get off the subject. I'm getting a headache…"_

_Sonia and Manic blinked, looking at each other. "Do you have any idea what they're talking about, Sis?"_

_"Not a clue, Manic, other than Sonic's brain is more overdone than usual…"_

_Shadow's ear twitched, looking back at the two. "Its nothing. Just something between me and Sonic for now…"_

Manic looked at him. "Sonic had been sick for a bit in the mornings, it was really weird."

At the top of the cave, it seemed that Jules had more energy than he knew what to do with. The excitement he had could barely be contained.

Sonic was less excited, staring out the mouth of the open cave into the blue sky. Shadow approached Sonic.

"Hey, you okay?"

Sonic looked back before leaning into Shadow, sighing.

"Just...nervous really. Being able to think back on everything...now it seems all...overwhelming..."

Sonic looked up to Shadow. "And there are people who I'm worried about what they still think of you...they act like you're going to betray us!"

Shadow cupped his cheeks, looking into Sonic's emerald eyes. "Who cares what other people think? You and I know the truth...and people will have to learn to deal with that..."

_In a dream you came along and tugged me in the heat  
Although warned by all my friends to stay away from that deceit  
Trapped into a fateful web, my instinct couldn't tell  
On my own with my decisions, decay into that spell_

"If I know how to then you go with me"  
Both we touch the sky  
"For the rest of your life I will follow you"  
Both we can't deny

LOST... IN A DREAM I FOLLOW  
LOST... NEVER TO RETURN  
LOST... WHAT ABOUT TOMORROW  
HIGH ON EMOTIONS  
LOST... IN A WASTE LAND  
LOST... WITH A BURNING FEVER  
HIGH ON EMOTIONS

Torn with struggle, finding back myself, out of that vicious circle  
Set me free I'm drifting on a wave, yeah I'm waiting for a miracle

LOST... IN A DREAM I FOLLOW  
LOST... NEVER TO RETURN  
LOST... WHAT ABOUT TOMORROW  
HIGH ON EMOTIONS  
LOST... IN A WASTE LAND  
LOST... WITH A BURNING FEVER  
HIGH ON EMOTIONS

"If I know how to then you go with me"  
Both we touch the sky  
"For the rest of your life I will follow you"  
Both we can't deny

LOST... IN A DREAM I FOLLOW  
LOST... NEVER TO RETURN  
LOST... WHAT ABOUT TOMORROW  
HIGH ON EMOTIONS  
LOST... IN A WASTE LAND  
LOST... WITH A BURNING FEVER  
HIGH ON EMOTIONS

"If I know how to then you go with me"  
What about tomorrow...  
It's a whispering in my head...  
"For the rest of your life I will follow you"

What about tomorrow... 

The cat adjusted his papers, Tails glaring at him as Manic sat there, arms folded. "And what about your brother? A string of recent failures coupled with a few betrayers does not look good."

Manic blinked. "What are you talking about?"

"Wasn't it Sonic and Shadow who lost the King's Box, and the king proceeded to threaten the population despite losing the throne?"

Manic blinked, recalling something about what happened when he and Sonia came back from a mission:

_Sonia and Manic headed back to the city, back home, where they found that Sonic, Shadow, and Jules were already at home, sitting at a table. Sonic grinned and stood up, running to his siblings and hugging them. "Hey guys! How did your mission go?"_

_"It was great!" Manic shattered excitedly. "We got to meet this old pirate captain, and got to see these old ruins and learned about the gods...and...and...and I got to use my powers on my own!"_

_Jules grinned, patting Manic on the back. "That's my boy! Taking after your old man, eh?"_

_"Hey, when you got the juice-" Sonic piped up, smirking._

_Sonia looked at her older brother. "How did your mission go?"_

_Shadow, who had been quiet up until now, simply spoke. "Robotnik got the King's Box."_

_Sonia frowned. "That's not good."_

_Jules merely shrugged. "Its safe. He can't get into it. No one but I can."_

_"But the deadline-" Sonia started to bring up, but then stopped closing her eyes, calming herself. "The promise of hope, the promise of hope..."_

_Jules smirked and patted her shoulder. "You ARE learning, sweetheart..."_

_He finally looked up to them. "Look, I have some other things to take care of. You kids take care and I'll be back around later."_

The cat nodded, looking over his notes. "I believe I have enough information now. Thank you for your time, Manic..."

Manic blinked as the cat up and left. He and Tails traded sideways glances.

The trio stood on the cliffside of the mountain, getting a good view of the island. So many different environments in one place! A jungle, a desert, some ruins.

Sonic stared, gazing at a spot on the island...some kind of alter it seemed. He stared for the longest time before it suddenly dawned on him. Eyes widen. "No...it...it can't be!"

Jules and Shadow looked to him. "Sonic?"

Sonic turned on them, frantic. "We gotta get outta here, pronto!"

Sonic grabbed Shadow's hand and began to pull on it. "Sonic! What's going on??"

"Hurry! We gotta get back to the Mystic Ruins!"

Suddenly Sonic stepped in a soft patch of snow and sank in, falling through and started sliding down the mountain.

Shadow screamed. "SONIC!"

Shadow pulled Sonic close and held out his hand. "CHAOS SHIELD!"

Suddenly an energy discus formed under Shadow's feet, allowing them to board down the snow side. A rumble from the mountainside showed an avalanche kicking off from Sonic's collapse through the snow. Shadow pulled Sonic close and focused ahead. "Hold on tight!"

The rode the makeshift snowboard ahead and out of reach of the avalanche as they slid down the mountainside safely. Sliding at the bottom, Sonic looked back up, worried now for Jules. "DAD!!"

Moments later, Jules came sliding down the mountainside to join the two, riding on a board made of ice. "Simple ice board. Not a problem. So, what was with the panic attack, Sonic?"

Shadow disrupted them before Sonic could answer. "Look!"

He picked up a gem. "Another chaos emerald!"

"Worry about it later, we gotta get off the island!" Sonic interrupted, grabbing both hedgehogs and pulling them in the general direction of where they got on the island at.

Manic, Sonia, and Tails met down at the safe house, each one looking worried.

"Resistance Intel is going to charge Sonic, Shadow and Father with conspiracy!" Sonia spoke, worriedly. "I know I haven't exactly cared about their behavior lately, but they're not traitors!"

"I know, Sonia! We gotta get down south and find them fast!" Manic said.

"But it doesn't make sense! Why would Resistance Intel suddenly suspect them on conspiracy?" Tails asked.

"I donno, something they mentioned about Angel Island falling from the sky at the time we were all down south..." Manic trailed off.

"Island...falling...?" Sonia's eyes widen.

"The loud noise we heard the night we were down south...the earthquake..." Manic started.

"We gotta go!" Sonia suddenly said.

Sonic, Shadow and Jules quickly climbed out of the cave, looking around as Sonic gripped the jewel in his hand. "Sonic, what's going on? What's wrong?" Shadow asked.

Sonic was quickly headed back for the clearing, speaking to Jules. "You said that the cliffside just suddenly appeared out of nowhere, and the cave leads us to the secret entrance of Angel Island. When did the cliffside appear?"

"I...I donno...me and Riff Raff found it only a few days ago."

"When was the last time you were out here before that?"

"I don't...before the earthquake, I remember that!" Jules stated. "Why?"

Sonic turned to look at Jules and Shadow. "Why would that cliffside suddenly appear after an earthquake? How is it that we found Angel Island there?"

Jules and Shadow looked at each other before Sonic suddenly turned, looking up at the cliffside. He spoke. "Because it fell from the sky."

Jules blinked before running to stand near Sonic's position, looking up. "A floating island?"

"THE Floating Island. You once mentioned chaos emeralds being on Angel island...The Floating Island had chaos emeralds. In fact, it floated BECAUSE of emeralds..."

"That doesn't explain your sudden fear of being on the island," Jules pointed out.

Suddenly Shadow yelled. "SONIC, BEHIND YOU!"

Sonic turned in time to be punched in the face. He cried out, stumbling back and falling.

"SONIC!" Jules yelled, running to his son's side and looking over him. Sonic was bleeding from the nose and was badly dazed. He looked back up in time to see Shadow suddenly scream in rage and tackle a red echidna.

"YOU SONOVABITCH!! I'LL KILL YOU!" Shadow screamed as he wrestled with the red echidna.

"Stupid hedgehog, get offa me!" the echidna growled, trying to keep the black hedgehog from choking him.

Shadow attempted to get his hands wrapped around the other's throat. "Not until I make you pay for hurting him!"

"He has the emerald shard! I must have it from him!" the echidna screeched.

"What the hell are you talking about? We don't have a shard! All we have is a chaos emerald!"

"What're you doing with a chaos emerald?!" the other growled. "Up to no good? Robotnik was right, Sonic is betraying the resistance!"

"And you actually believe that?! Are you THAT naive, you moron? Sonic would NEVER betray the resistance!"

"KNUCKLES!"

The red echidna tore away from Shadow when he heard the voice, looking up to see Sonia, Manic, and Tails approach. "Sonia!"

Knuckles ran and embraced the pink hedgehog. "You're okay! When I heard Sonic betrayed the resistance, I thought he had hurt you!"

Sonia pulled away, looking at him. "What're you talking about?"

"Everyone's been talking about it down here ever since the island crashed. He said that all the bad things that been happening down here were while Sonic was down here!"

"AND SO WAS THE DOCTOR, YOU IDIOT!" Shadow growled, to which Knuckles turned, holding up a barbed fist.

"Looking for round 2, hedgehog?!"

"Anytime, echidna!"

"YO STOP IT!" Manic yelled, getting between the two with a metal arm out towards Knuckles, and his flesh one towards Shadow. "This is what the Eggman wants! To divide us and keep up distracted! Coronation Day is tomorrow and we have no way to stop it! We don't need to be fighting one another on top of everything else!"

Shadow snorted and stood, turning back towards the unconscious Sonic. "You're wrong about one thing, Manic. We do have a plan about Coronation Day. We had a plan all along."

"No you don't," Sonia said worriedly, folding her arms. "Resistance Intel is planning on having the three of you arrested the minute you get back to Robotropolis for conspiracy against the crown!"

"WHAT?!" both Shadow and Jules gaped, staring at Sonia. Shadow growled. "Those idiots! How can they accuse the king of conspiracy against himself?!"

"As far as everyone knew, Aleena was the recognized government head after Father left. His reappearance is suspect of foul play against Aleena," Sonia pointed out.

"Those idiots! They're gonna ruin everything!" Jules growled, looking to Shadow.

"What're you talking about? What's going on?" Knuckles asked.

Suddenly they were disrupted with the sound of laughing. They all turned to see Robotnik laughing while in his Egg Mobile. "Oh this IS quite a scene. Thank you for making it so easy!"

He held up the chaos emerald Sonic DID have in his hands before, and Shadow realized that Sonic must of dropped it when he got punched. He glared at the echidna. "Way to go, Knucklehead!"

"Its Knuckles, spine brain!" he growled back, before they watched as Robotnik threw the chaos emerald into a nearby pond.

"What is he doing??" Jules growled.

Both Shadow and Knuckles watched as a watery form of a shark rose from the water.

"Chaos," they both mumbled at the same time before looking at each other. "How do you know Chaos?!"

"Look, Sonic's out cold. We have to put aside our differences and take this monster out!" Shadow said, ignoring the question for the moment.

Knuckles nodded. "You're right, let's do it!"

As Shadow and Knuckles leapt forward to deal with the water monster, Sonia and Manic looked towards Robotnik, who was laughing. Sonia glared. "You're not gonna get away with this!"

"Who's gonna stop me? By tomorrow, I will be the legal ruler of Mobius! And then, the Resistance will be done for!"

"You're digging your own grave, Julian!" Jules growled, holding Sonic close in his arms. "You won't win!"

"You have NOTHING over me, Jules! No amount of freedom fighters you have can say otherwise!" Robotnik grinned.

Nearby, Chaos screeched and lashed out at an attacking Shadow. Shadow held out his hand to block, an energy beam striking at his hand and shredding the glove. Shadow yelped and gripped at his hand as Knuckles leapt forward to attack the brain of the creature.

Tails leaped from his spot near Manic and Sonia and flew forward to distract the beast.

Jules handed Sonic over to Sonia before getting up to face Robotnik. "That is where you are seriously wrong."

Chaos screeched again and fell as Knuckles, Shadow, and Tails emerged from the pond, victorious.

"Looks like your pet had enough, Doctor!" Shadow smirked. Robotnik growled and flew over the pond, transporting Chaos onto his ship. "This isn't over! Mobius is mine, you hear?! MINE!"

He flew off, leaving the others alone.

Sonia was still cradling Sonic in her arms when Shadow, Knuckles, and Tails came back to them. Manic ran to Shadow. "You guys did it!"

"We're not out of the woods yet," Jules said, reaching for his wrist communicator. "Cyrus!"

The voice on the other end spoke with the voice of Cyrus. "Yes sir, your highness! What's going on?"

"Make sure all the recruits are ready for tomorrow. And beware of Resistance Intel. They been nosing about and plan to have us falsely arrested. I need them distracted until after Coronation Day!"

"Will do!"

Sonia looked up to Jules, confused. "Father, what's going on? Surely you're not planning on trying to stop Coronation Day, are you? Robotnik...and his troops! He'll hurt you, this is reckless!"

"Not at all, Sonia. We been planning this for a while, don't you worry."

"WHAT PLAN! You guys been keeping us in the dark since day one! Why can't you tell us anything?! Nothing make sense!"

Sonia sighed and squeezed her unconscious brother's hand. "What is so important that you can't tell us about...?"

"Sonia, the less people know, the better chance we stand of completely pulling the throne from under Julian! This mission-"

"What's this?" Sonia asked, feeling around Sonic's gloved finger. "Feels like Sonic's finger swollen up...actually...feels even harder-"

Jules looked up sharply as Sonia started to remove the glove. "No wait, SONIA-!"

She pulled off the glove, showing a gold ring around Sonic's finger. She blinked and looked at it. "Since when did Sonic wear rings?"

"Why don't we ask Shadow?" Manic asked suddenly, grabbing and holding up Shadow's shredded glove hand. The same ring was on his finger.

Jules groaned and slapped his forehead as Shadow tried to yank his arm from Manic's metallic grip. Manic extracted the ring from his finger and tossed it to Sonia for her to look at.

"Give it back!" Shadow yelled out, distressed now as Knuckles walked over to help Manic restrain Shadow.

"What are they? Spy rings?" Knuckles asked.

Sonia stared at both rings in disbelief before looking up to Jules. "This is impossible..."

"Sonia, why can't you just listen to me..." Jules groaned.

"Give it back!" Shadow yelled, trying to break free of the others.

"So? What are they, sis?" Manic asked, worried. "Sonic...Shadow...Pa...they can't be-"

"They're wedding bands, Manic!" Sonia said in an outburst to stop Manic from saying anymore.

Needless to say, both Manic and Knuckles lost their grip on Shadow. "WHAT?!"

Shadow ran to Sonia and Sonic, snagging both the ring and Sonic from Sonia and pulling him back, away from the others and towards Jules.

Sonia and Tails backed up to join Knuckles and Manic as Shadow put his ring back on, and holding Sonic close in a protective manner. Jules held both of them, looking back at the group with a glare.

Manic's last question was the one that everyone else was asking.

"Sonic is married?!"

"Lost" is performed by Beautiful Sin.


	13. Sacred Vows, Part 1: Coronation Day

-1Robotnik stepped through the corridors of the citadel, Bartleby walking with him. "Soon, all the preparations will be complete, and I will be king."

Bartleby nodded. "Yes sir."

He smirked. "The best part is, there's nothing anyone can do about it...especially not the hedgehogs!"

--

Sonic Underground CHAOS

Sacred Vows, Part 1: "Coronation Day"

written by Sonic Remix

Sonic the Hedgehog and related characters and indicia © and ™ 1991-2008 SEGA - Sonic Team

--

It was a vast world...so dark and foreboding. Sonic stood there, looking around with eyes wide. Black and red creatures, sharing the colors of Shadow, wandered about. And high in the night sky...was that...Mobius?!  
Sonic came to with a gasp, only to have Shadow hold onto the other tightly as Sonic shook. "Sonic!"

"Shadow?" Sonic looked to him before looking around, realizing he was back in the safe house. "Ugh, my head. How long was I out?"

"All night."

Sonic groaned as he tried to sit up now. "Ugh...what hit me?"

"I'm afraid that was my fault," a voice spoke up now. Sonic turned his head sharply to see Sonia, Manic and Knuckles standing near the door. Knuckles was the one who spoke.

Sonic blinked. "Knuckles? What's going on?"

"We could ask the same of you," Sonia said.

Sonic blinked. "Huh?"

"Sonic..." Shadow spoke slowly. "They...they saw the rings."

"What?!" Sonic looked back at the others sharply. Jules was sitting by Sonic's bedside.

"I told Sonia not to pry, but I couldn't stop them."

"Is it true, bro?" Manic asked, worried. "Are...did you really marry Shadow...?"

There was a long silence in which Sonic did not want to answer. Before Sonia could pry again, the communicator that Sonic had sounded off. Sonic answered it. "Go ahead, Cy."

"Sonic, I need to see you all immediately. We have a problem!"

"Right away!" Sonic said, before slowly standing up, gripping Shadow's hand and glaring at the others. "We'll settle this later, guys."

All six convened silently into the meeting room where Cyrus was, where an image of a ship was on the screen. "Robotnik's got this ready to launch after the ceremony. He calls it the Egg Carrier, and it carries a huge laser designated to destroy entire cities!"

"Looks bad," Sonic frowned, folding his arms. "Where is it?"

"Our spy is working on uncovering the location now. We'll alert you guys once we found out," Cyrus nodded before looking to Jules. "By the way, we managed to get everyone ready for today. However, Resistance Intel is still out there, so beware."

Jules nodded. "Just keep your eyes open."

In the citadel, Robotnik headed for his office before he slowly pulled out a box from a safe. he held it in his hand, ready to unlock it once he becomes king. "I wonder what secrets Jules is hiding in this box..."

Outside, Sonic, Shadow and Jules were slowly being followed by Sonia, Manic and Knuckles before Sonic turned to Jules. "Mom should be arriving at the safe house anytime now. We need to get back."

Jules nodded. "Yes, let's go."

"HOLD IT!"

Sonia ran and stood before them. "I'm sick and tired of these secrets and sneaking about. I want answers, and I want them NOW!"

Jules gently pulled her aside. "Sonia, sweetheart, this is NOT the time."

"But-!"  
Sonic glared at her. "We'll talk later!"

The trio moved on, leaving Sonia, Manic and Knuckles frowning. Sonia folded her arms. "Guys...we're gonna find out what's going on..."

Headed inside the safe house, Shadow sat heavily on the couch with a groan, before Sonic sat next to him, nuzzling him softly. "Don't worry...soon everything will be done..."

Shadow sighed and nodded before staring at his ring. In his mind, he envisioned the moment that Sonic's trembling hands were slowly putting the ring on Shadow's finger. He smiled softly at the memory.

Suddenly the door of the safe house knocked over, and various Resistance Intel officers came in, guns drawn. "EVERYONE, FREEZE!"

Everyone had their hands in the air as agents filled the room, gathering everyone together. "Sonic the Hedgehog, Shadow the Hedgehog, King Jules, you are under arrest for an attempt to plot against the crown of Queen Aleena!"

Sonic growled, standing before Shadow and Jules. "Are you all insane?! We are not plotting against the Queen!"

"OUTSIDE."  
Staring down the barrel of a gun, Shadow gripped Sonic's shoulders. "Sonic, let's just go outside...I don't want you to get shot!"

Sonic looked back at Shadow, thinking about arguing back when he looked at how worried Shadow was. He remembered not too long ago about the incident with Maria.

But Sonic didn't have a bullet vest, so Shadow had every reason in the world to be worried. Sonic finally nodded. The agents escorted the trio outside.

-right into a crowd of freedom fighters, guns raised.

At the front was Trevor, his blaster aimed straight for the agent manhandling Sonic roughly. "Let them go!"

Outnumbered and outgunned, the agents slowly released Sonic, Shadow and Jules.

One agent growled. "You'll all be hanged as traitors!"

Sonic, Shadow and Jules made a quick dash away from the house when they heard a call from the side alley. Looking at one another, they made a detour for the alley.

Hiding within the shadows was Aleena herself.

"Mom!" Sonic called and quickly hugged her.

She hugged back. "Where's everyone else?"

"Back at the safe house, while the Intel and the Freedom Fighters are facing off one another. Mom, you got to tell them that what we're doing is not a plot against you!"

She paled when Sonic told her this. "I'll stop them. We don't need any more fighting amongst ourselves!"

Trevor and the others were still facing off with the Intel, exchanging debates and accusations. "You guys are complete idiots to think that Sonic would betray his own mother!"

"Apparently he would not even trust his own family to let in on his plans," The head agent argued. "All the clues, and everything Robotnik has now leads to one thing! Sonic is a traitor!"

"STOP THIS!"

Everyone gasped when they heard the voice and nearly fell to the ground in a bow as Queen Aleena made her presence known.

Manic, Sonia, and Knuckles emerged from the house when they heard the commotion die down, and saw the Queen.

"MOTHER!"  
"MA!"

Manic and Sonia came running up to hug her. Aleena returned the hugs and looked back at the head Intel agent. "Stop this fighting. Your accusations against my son are completely wrong!"

The agents slowly stood up and looked at her with fear. "But...but my queen...everything that he's done-"

"-were part of a secret plan that only myself, my husband, Sonic, and Shadow were privileged to know. What you're doing is interference to restore the throne to my family."

The agent swallowed. "Men...s..stand down!"

Robotnik was overseeing the decorations of the throne room for his victory as king of Mobius, before he received a radio call from his SWATbot force. "Sir, the Egg Carrier is ready for launch."

He grinned. "Excellent...soon I will have eradicated all who stand in my way as king."

Aleena turned to see Sonic, Shadow and Jules coming back. Jules and Aleena embraced one another while Shadow simply held Sonic close.

Knuckles watched the two before looking towards Sonia. She looked rather irritated.

Feeling he had to do something, Knuckles gently grasped her hand. "Sonia, are you okay?"

Sonia looked up at Knuckles, startled for a moment before he flushed. "Oh...oh yes I..."

She shook her head clear. "I'm okay...just..."

She looked back towards Aleena, still gripping Knuckles hand. "Mother, what's with the rings Sonic and Shadow have?"

Suddenly everyone who was there stared at the group in question. Aleena looked back at Sonia worriedly and shaking her head. "I can't discuss it here, Sonia. We haven't finished with the plan yet."

"But...what plan?!"

Suddenly Sonia's communicator sounded off, and she pulled it out to answer it. "Sonia here."

"Sonia, you MUST come to my home immediately! It is very important!"

Bartleby's voice spoke through the communicator, raising an eyebrow from Knuckles. Sonia waved him off as she spoke back. "We'll be there, Bartleby!"

Sonic, Shadow, Jules and Aleena separated from the others, saying they had last minute preparations to take care of before the ceremony began. So it was down to Sonia, Manic and Knuckles to head for the mansion where Bartleby lived. Standing outside the gate, Knuckles whistled. "Fan-cy. So how do you know this guy?"

Sonia flushed deeply, suddenly feeling embarrassed by the question. "Well I...never mind, its not important. Bartleby is a spy working for the resistance."

She pressed the comm. button outside the gate. "Antique Appraisers!"

Knuckles raised an eyebrow before the gate video monitor flicked on, showing Bartleby's face. "Oh good! Just in time. Come on in, my dear lady, I have quite a collection for you to look at!"

The gates opened, with Knuckles raising an eyebrow. "Antique Appraisers?"

They started walking while Sonia spoke. "Robotnik spy eyes are everywhere. We can't risk blowing our cover."

At the door, Bartleby opened the door. "Sonia, darling!"

He approached her, taking her hand to kiss it, causing Knuckles to watch with a raised eyebrow. "Please, do come in!"

The trio headed inside, with Sonia's attention on Bartleby as they walked down the hall. Manic and Knuckles stood behind, a little out of place in Bartleby's home. Knuckles folded his arms, before his attention was diverted by Manic making with sticky fingers and snagging a few shines. Knuckles turned to him.

"I don't think you should be stealing from this guy, he seems important..."

Manic looked at him. "What? He's just Sonia's old boyfriend..."

Knuckles blinked before shrugging. "Eh, never mind then."

Sonia, meanwhile, was walking with Bartleby before she looked at him. "Bartleby, what's going on that was so important?"

"Oh yes, I found out the location of the Egg Carrier," Bartleby spoke suddenly. "He has it down south in the Mystic Forest!"

"The Egg Carrier? We got to warn the resistance!"

Suddenly Bartleby's communicator station beeped, indicating an incoming transmission. Bartleby answered it. It was Robotnik.

"Yes sir?"

"Bartleby, the ceremony is about to start. Come to the palace immediately!"

Manic, Sonia and Manic started making their way for the palace themselves, while Bartleby headed their in his own ride.

"I don't get anything that's going on anymore! What are Sonic and Shadow planning with Mother and Father?" Sonia asked, worried now.

"Sonia, we have to trust them! They're family, I know they have their reasons!" Manic called back.

"Look!" Knuckles pointed, as a small device came at them. It didn't look like a Robotnik device though as it slowed and stopped before them. it opened to show a hologram Sonic.

"Sonia, Manic, Knuckles. I need you to come to the palace. I know we've had out differences in the last several weeks, but you got to trust me!"

The trio looked at each other before a song played from the hologram.

_Aall right!!..._

Well, I don't show off, don't criticize,  
I'm just livin' by my own feelings.  
And I won't give in, won't compromise,  
Coz I only have a steadfast heart of gold...

I don't know why. I can't leave though it might be tough,  
But I ain't out of control, just livin' by my word.  
Don't ask me why, I don't need a reason.  
I got my way. My own way!!

It doesn't matter now what happens. I will never give up the fight!!  
Long as the voice inside drives me to run and fight,  
It doesn't matter who is wrong and who is right!

Well, I won't look back I don't need to,  
Time won't wait and I got so much to do.

Where do I stop now, it's all a blur, it's so unclear.  
Well, I don't know but I can't be wrong!

It doesn't matter now what happens. I will never give up the fight!!  
Long as the voice inside drives me to run and fight,  
Place all your bets on the one you think is right!

Ooh.. It doesn't matter now what happens. I will never give up the fight!!  
Long as the voice inside drives me to run and fight,  
It doesn't matter who is wrong and who is right!

No! No! No! No...

It doesn't matter!!

The trio arrived at the palace to find the number of aristocrats already watching as the ceremony began. Sonia, Manic and Knuckles headed up to a balcony to get a better view.

Robotnik headed down the walkway towards the throne, dressed in his old warlord uniform. He sat down as the official priest held the crown.

"This ceremony has recognized the laws of the royal Mobian monarchy. With the passing of the legal heirs 18th birthday without marriage, they are no longer allowed to ascend the throne. Therefore, by law, this court recognizes Warlord Julian Robotnik of the House of Ivo as the next king of Mobius. Therefore, I decree that-"

"STOP."

Everyone gasped as Sonic came marching down the aisle, dressed in a white, long sleeved shirt with a green vest, fingerless black gloves, and red boots that resembled his shoes. Flanked by his sides were King Jules and Queen Aleena. Sonic stopped a distance, folding his arms. "I will not allow this ceremony to commence!"

The priest looked between an angry Robotnik and Sonic. "State your name for the record of this objection?"

"Prince Sonic, son of King Jules and Queen Aleena, of the House of Hedgehog."

Robotnik suddenly cooled down in a sly smile. "What could you possibly be able to do to stop this ceremony, dear lad? You have no claim to the throne."

Sonic worked at his glove as the priest spoke up. "I'm afraid Warlord Julian is right, my prince. You were unable..."

Sonic pulled his glove off. The priest faltered in his sentence. "...to..."

Sonic lifted his hand, showing off the wedding band. "...marry...?"

"Actually, as a matter of fact, I DID get married. Thanks for asking though!" Sonic grinned.

The crowd gasped in shock as Robotnik leapt to his feet, not believing it. "It can't be! Who did you POSSIBLY get married to?!"

Shadow suddenly stepped out from the side shadows. wearing a similar outfit to Sonic's only he wore a robe-like red vest, wrapping an arm around Sonic and holding up his own hand with his wedding band. "Me."

"Whaaaaat?!" Bartleby was the one to outburst, shocked by such...such an idea. Suddenly the room burst into chatter, whispers and speaking to one another about the nature of such a matter. Robotnik growled.

"NO! It's not possible! Your marriage is illegal, according to the laws of union!"

Sonic smirked. "Is it? Do you recall the so called 'secret plans' you intercepted from us in Anaz? The silly law that my mom and dad had passed?"

Robotnik froze, remembering having grabbed the paper that allowed same-gender marriages. Suddenly, decoy plans didn't seem so...decoy.

"...but you can't prove that your marriage occurred before the deadline! That was your mistake!" Robotnik pointed out.

"No mistake. We managed to document the event...you been holding the evidence for us since the day of the deadline."

Robotnik's face blanked out at this, with Sonia and Manic looking at one another in question. Jules stepped forward. "After all, you did brag about the day you held the king's box...the day of the deadline...you had that for quite a while, though you could not open the box. No one but I can open the box. So what you been holding, Julian, is the evidence with a copy of Sonic's marriage certificates and a video documenting the marriage ceremony."

Robotnik's eyes widen. Everything...all that he thought he did to stop the resistance...they tricked him! He had played RIGHT into the king's hands!

A quick thought crossed his mind. "They cannot take the throne, why will not be able to produce legal heirs to pass on!"

Everyone in the room suddenly silenced, including Sonia and Manic, who look defeated. Robotnik had them there. And here they thought they won...

The silence was broken by a sound...chuckling?

Everyone looked for the source. It was Jules who was starting to laugh. Sonic and Shadow were grinning widely while Aleena looked at her husband, confused.

"What is so funny?!" Robotnik demanded.

"I tell you one thing, Julian. Under any other circumstances, you're right."

"AND?!"

Jules grinned. "And as it turns out, I found out my son is an MPREG."

"A what?!"

Shadow spoke up now. "You can check medical records to confirm if you want!"

"What're you trying to say?!" Robotnik demanded. "What's the point?!"

Sonic smiled, running a hand down his stomach. "It means that after I got married, Shadow got me pregnant."

A wide chorus of gasps sounded.

Manic and Knuckles's jaws dropped to the ground.

Sonia outright fainted (along with a few others).

Robotnik gaped at this, trying to work his mouth.

Sonic folded his arms with a smirk. "Its over, Robuttnik. We won."

A long silence followed with Robotnik out of options before the first cheer sounded. From the balcony. Manic had threw a fist in the air. "MOBIUS IS FREE!"

A loud cheer broke out from everyone, as Shadow pulled Sonic in for a deep kiss. The cheers got louder as everyone realized that they were truly free.

Robotnik glared up to the balcony where Manic and the others were, growling before he screamed. "SWATBOTS! SURROND AND TARGET THOSE HEDGEHOGS!"

Manic and Knuckles gasped and grabbed the fainted Sonia as SWATbots encircled them, guns drawn to their heads. Everyone else gasped with fear as Sonic and Shadow held each other in fright, worried for the family. Robotnik glared at Sonic and Shadow. "You two will stand down and surrender the throne to me. If I hear any answer other than yes, then I will order these SWATbots to destroy your precious friends and family.

Sonic stared, wide eyed at Robotnik. No...this can't go on like this...

Sonic's mind snaps as he suddenly glared darkly at Robotnik. Shadow suddenly felt the air charging with chaos energy.

So much, in fact, that even those who were not sensitive to chaos energy could feel a dark, foreboding chill.

Sonic's fur began to grow darker, white stripes appearing on his top quills as his peach fur on his arms and belly began to turn as dark as his blue fur. His eyes paled until they began a glowing pure white.

Shadow backed away from Sonic, along with others as even Robotnik stared at Sonic in fright.

A black aura was rising from the hedgehog as he focused his eyes on Robotnik, striking a deep fear into the tyrant's heart. "Who...what...what are you?!"

"We are the persona that haunts the nightmares that stalks the hearts of evil," Sonic spoke in a low voice. "We are the hunters of the unjust, and the judgment of tyrants. We are the Darkspine."

He held his hands out, and suddenly all the SWATbots exploded, while a white energy shield protected Sonia, Manic, and Knuckles before dissipating.

Robotnik backed up, truly afraid of this creature that possessed Sonic as he spoke again. "The justice of Hope demands you depart these halls, or face your fate in the zone of Eternal Twilight, where your undying torment awaits."

Not needing to be told twice, Robotnik fled from the palace.

Darkspine Sonic approached the throne before turning, offering his hand to Shadow just as the energies dispersed. Shadow slowly approached him, taking Sonic's hand before turning.

The crowd began to cheer loudly again, as well as freedom fighters who came in from outside and all over. The cheers only became louder as the two sat in the two thrones, still holding hands.

Sonia came to from the loud cheering, blinking as Knuckles helped her to her feet and steady her. "What...what's going on?"

"We won, Sonia! Sonic and Shadow are about to be crowned!" Manic grinned. Sonia gaped and ran to the balcony railing to watch.

The priest cleared his throat to quiet the others.

"It is this court's decision that I am to crown Prince Sonic and Shadow, of the house of Hedgehog, the new kings of Mobius!"

The priest slowly placed the crown upon Sonic's head.

Everyone cheered again as the two stood up. Even Sonia, Manic, and Knuckles were clapping and cheering for them. Sonic looked up to them with a smile before looking to the crowd, holding up his hands to silence them. "As first act as the king of Mobius...I will establish the Council of Four. Sonia, Manic, come join with us. Your place is with family."

Sonia and Manic grinned, running down as everyone began clapping. Knuckles slowly followed, stopping to stand beside Bartleby, just as Sonia and Manic stood by Sonic and Shadow's sides, along with Jules and Aleena. Knuckles spoke casually to Bartleby while everyone was cheering. "You still love her, don't you?"

"Of course. I'm going to marry her someday," Bartleby said, watching Sonia with a smile.

"Then I'd say that you and me are going to have problems," Knuckles said, never glancing the noble's way.

Bartleby merely flashed a smile towards Sonia while speaking to Knuckles. "You'll never win her hand, you barbarian. I will see to it."

"Bring it on, pretty boy," Knuckles replied, watching Sonia and waving to her. She smiled and waved back.

Suddenly there was a flash of light and smoke in the center of the hall, and everyone backed up and cleared the way.

A robed figure stood before the Council. It was the Oracle of Delphius.

"Congratulations are in order, young hedgehogs," the oracle spoke. "You have won your right to the throne, and Robotnik is on the run. You have passed many trials and tribulations and have rightly earned this victory."

Sonic grinned. "Thanks, Orc! So what's next in our future?"

The Oracle smiled with a knowledge of mystery. "The future is unwritten, my king. It is yours to make, so long as your heart is in the right place. One thing is for certain; nothing is truly over. This chapter on the history of Mobius is over, and another is about to begin. The adventure continues. Make it one worth to continue reading about."

Sonic nodded, holding Shadow close. "We will, Orc. We will...and thank you!"

Shadow suddenly turned to Sonic, cupping his cheek. "How about a classic ending?"

"And what would that be?" Sonic smirked.

Shadow suddenly bent Sonic over and kissed him hard, loud cheers irrupting from others.

Far from Robotropolis, Robotnik flew his Egg Mobile down south, fuming. "Its not over, hedgehogs...not by a long shot. I still have the Egg Carrier, and I still have Chaos. Beware, KING Sonic, your new kingdom WILL fall!"

TO BE CONTINUED...END OF SEASON 1

"It Doesn't Matter" is performed by Tony Harnell.


End file.
